A year at Hogwarts
by Kissa-chan
Summary: COMPLETE! At Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardy, the Soumas get ready for Halloween. Please read and review!
1. Wizards and witches

Sohma Hatori woke up. He was still a child due to the strange events at the beach house the year before, but he was gradually getting used to that.   
What he wasn't used to was the adoptive mother that Akito had forced him to accept. She was always fussing over him. "I hope that Hatori gets enough to eat. Do you think that Hatori's coming down with a cold? I'm taking Hatori to the park. Hatori, you shouldn't have to do that. Why don't you do something that you want to do?"   
Of course as soon as he tried to do something that he wanted to do - like read - she was right there. "Oh, Hatori, are the other kids picking on you again? Come on, let's go to the park. We don't need them." Then without regard for anything he said she would drag him away and make him go up and down the slide a million or more times, or so it seemed.  
The other children that she was talking about were the other members of the zodiac and three extras. Akito, who had also gotten turned back into a child, had given the order that everyone was to forget that they had every been adults. That meant that they had to have surrogate mothers and fathers.  
To make sure that he had his eye on them at all times, Akito had moved all of them to the main house and refused to allow them to leave unless they were accompanied by a parent. Then he had started making them all come over to his house every day for at least an hour, and he would speak softly or loudly depending on the mood he was in.   
Everything with Akito depended on the mood he was in. On a whim, he could kill someone in a rage, then less then five minutes later he could be the most soft spoken person in the universe. It made coming over to see him unpredictable. The others weren't used to the unpredictability that Akito represented, but Hatori was, or rather had been his doctor. He had visited the head of the family more often then the other members, and suffered from his violent tempers more then the others.  
He was actually mostly blind in his left eye due to a flung vase. He had been asking for permission to marry at that time, but Akito had denied him the right to even love Kana anymore. He kept blaming Kana for hurting Hatori.   
"Hatori, it's not like you to stay in bed this late," his mother called out. "You must be - "  
Hatori quickly wiped the corners of his eyes. No tears had fallen, but his eyes were still damp, thinking about Kana still hurt. "I'm fine, Mother. Is there something that you needed?" his voice was the same icy calm that he had gotten used to years before. The voice that let none of his emotions through.   
His mother wrinkled her forehead and frowned. "Akito-san has requested your pressence at the main house. I'm not sure what he wants, but it had better be quick. You start public school today."  
The regressed children had all been home schooling to keep themselves from having to repeat public school, but recently their parents had decided that they were getting to isolated and had applied to send them to real school.  
"I'll go see what he wants," Hatori said. He climbed out of his bed, noting his mothers disapproving look at his thin bed covers. He had tossed the heavy features onto the floor the night before. She was always worried that he would catch a cold.  
He quickly dressed and gave her a kiss to keep her placid. "I'll be back before you know it," he said. Then he was gone, and his mother sank down onto his bed and worried what might happen to her son that day.  
  
************************  
  
Sohma Yuki was breathing heavily. Akito had summoned him to the main house. He hated being summoned to the main house. He hated living so close to Akito. He feared Akito, he couldn't help it.  
Beside him Kyou walked in silence. Normally the cat was loud and boisterous, but today. . . . . today he was super quiet. He didn't even look that slightest bit pissed off at the presence of Kagura.  
For her part, Kagura was unnaturally quiet too.  
"Is something wrong?" Tohru asked. She was her usual bright and cheerful self in spite of the anxious attitudes of the zodiac members around her.  
Yuki started slightly and nodded his head by accident.   
"What?" Tohru pounced on his answer right away.  
He started again, then smiled slightly at her. "I'm just a little bit nervous about being summoned to see Akito like this. He usually waits until after school, and even then he never calls all of us at the same time."  
"Do you really call this 'all of us?" Kyou demanded. "We're only a small amount of the zodiac and the doomed ones. Kyou had started calling himself and the other regressed adults, the Doomed Ones. According to him, Yuki was going to make sure that none of them every found happiness.  
"Everyone is coming, that's what he said on the phone," Kagura spoke up suddenly. "That means that everyone is coming. Akito doesn't lie. He even ordered the three outsiders to come to the main house. That's not like him."  
"What do you mean?" Uotani asked from behind them. Her and Hana had been turned back into children too, and Akito had decided that they were going to stay at the Sohma house until they were old enough to leave.  
"She means that he doesn't usually act this way," Hana said in her mysterious fashion.   
Tohru turned her attention back foreword. She hadn't seen Akito in a long time. He liked calling Hatori to the main house the best and seemed to alternate everyone based on the idea that he would see Hatori then someone else, and then Hatori again.   
"I wonder how he's doing," she muttered to herself. None of the others responded.   
They walked in silence for several more moments until while passing Ayame's house they ran into another group of cursed children. Shigure, Aya, and Hatori were slowly making there way to the Honke.  
Shigure and Aya were bouncing around Hatori bubbling about some sort of joke. Hatori was in an even deeper blank state then usual. He didn't even greet the others as they drew nearer.  
"Good morning," Tohru said.  
"Hello and good morning, and what a fine morning it is," Shigure said. He nodded his head to the rest of the assemble cursed children. "Aya and I were just talking how lovely it is going to be to go back to school."  
"That way we can play tons of jokes on everyone," Aya said. "Yuki, say do you want to help? It'd be a fun chance to get to know your brother better!"  
"Get away from me," Yuki said. His nerves had been steadily getting worse, and he burst into a run to get out of the group of children. He wanted to be alone. He had been to closed in around. Too tied down for his own comfort.   
"Yuki-kun!" Tohru shouted. She started to run after him, but Hana stopped her with a single pale hand on her shoulder.  
"He needs time to be alone," the electric girl said.   
Hatori sighed behind them all. "Everyone, start moving towards the house now. We have to get to the Honke before something else happens, or someone else arrives."  
  
************************  
  
Sohma Hatsuharu cursed when he realized that he was the first one to arrive at the main house. That shouldn't have happened, he lived farther away then everyone else and had taken a circular route to make sure that he didn't get there too soon.  
"That you're here proves that the others are taking there time," Akito said. "I called you last, you know."  
"Acutally, I didn't know," Haru said. Next time he promised himself that he would run around Tokyo first. That way he wouldn't have to be alone with Akito.   
"I suppose that you want to know why I called you all here, yes?" Akito asked softly.   
Haru shook his head slightly. "No, not really. Whatever the reason, I'm sure that you'll tell us in your own timing."  
Akito tossed somthing to him. "Read this," he commanded.  
Haru picked it up and stared at it. The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. He turned the letter over and saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.  
It was adressed clearly. So clearly that there was very little doubt as to who was too read the letter.  
Mr. Hatsuharu Sohma  
Room 5  
4 Sakura Drive  
Tokyo  
There was no zip code and it wasn't adressed like regular letters, but all the same it was clearly supposed to belong to the ox.  
"What's this?" he asked before he could stop himself.  
"Open it up and see for yourself. It's where you're going to go to school for the next seven years," Akito said. He didn't seem to be in a bad mood.  
Haru turned the letter over again, noting that the seal had already been broken. He didn't say anything. If Akito wanted to look at his mail, he would.  
"Well, hurry up and open it," Akito said.  
Haru nodded and pulled the papers out of the envelope.  
  
Hogwarts School  
of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, Frist Class, Grand Sorc., Chf.Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, Internations Confed. of Wizards)  
  
Dear Mr. Sohma,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equiptment.   
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.  
Yours Sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall,  
Deputy Headmistress  
Haru looked at the paper skeptically. What kind of school was this? "What -" he began to ask, but Akito interrupted him.  
"It's a magick school. We're all going. That way we can learn something new and fun."  
Haru just stared for several moments. Then he shrugged and examined the rest of the papers that had come with the letter. One of them was an equiptment list.  
  
Hogwarts School  
of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
  
Uniform  
First-year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide of similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.  
  
Course Books  
All students should have a copy of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)  
by Miranda Goshawk  
A history of Magic by Bathilda Bagsho  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Sitch  
One Thousand Magical Hrbs and Fungi   
by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beast and Where to FInd Them  
by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A guide to Self-Protection  
by Quentin Trimble  
Other Equiptment  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 set brass scales  
Students may alon bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad  
  
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THIER OWN BROOMSTICKS!  
  
"Uhmmmmmmm, can we really get this stuff anywhere?" Haru asked skeptically. This wasn't going to be a typical school year.  
"If you know where to look, yes," Akito said. "We'll leave as soon as the others arrive."  
  
************************ 


	2. Wands and other equiptment

The Leaky Cauldron hid the secret passage into the wizard community in London. Hatori didn't think to highly of it. It was a dingy, tiny, grubby looking bar. Inside was just as dark and gloomy. Just as unattractive as the outside.  
The bartender came over to them immediately. "Names' Tom. I take it that you're all first years?" he questioned. He got a fair amount of muggle born wizards passing through each year. With practice he had gotten rather good at picking out new Hogwarts students and lost tourists. However, this group in particular was a bit strange.  
Akito nodded his head sharply in response to the question. "Yes, we will be attending classes at Hogwarts this year."   
"All right, let me take you to the enterance to Diagon Alley." Tom peered around, looking an adult in their group. It was strange to see so many unsupervised children. "Where are your parents?" he asked.  
Hatori stepped foreword quickly. "Our parents are very busy people. They didn't have time to come today." He had thought about their youthful appearence and the result was that he was slightly unprepared for the question. He crossed his finger behind his back and hoped that Tom didn't question them too much.  
Tom shrugged. "Okay," he said. It was common for parents to be busy. They didn't have to follow their kids around. Although if they were his children he would keep a closer eye on them.  
Tom led them out back to a plain brick wall. All of the regressed children waited patiently while the man tapped the bricks with his wand. Then, upon tapping one of the bricks and calling out a few words, the wall melted away, like a hold was burned into it.  
"Wow," Momiji could be heard saying in amazement.   
"Unbelievable. . . . . . ." Hatori murmured.  
A bright road stretched out before them. Everywhere that they looked there was bustle. Men and women in tall pointed hats made their way among the strange shops.   
The shops themselves were strange, Yuki found himself wandering foreword without the others. In the background he could hear Hatori thanking the bartender for helping them out. That was so like him, always the diplomat.   
The nezumi passed several stores that were selling brooms, cauldrons, and strange ingredients. "Wow," he muttered, turning around in amazement. He had never seen such an unusal assortment of products to be purchased.  
"Harry!" he heard a girl's voice shout. He turned his violet eyes towards the yelling girl. It was a bushy haired girl with warm brown eyes. Unfortunetly, she hadn't seemed to see him, and he didn't see her until it was too late. His eyes widened as she toppled into him.  
POOF! There was a burst of colored smoke. The girl sat up slowly, holding Yuki's discarded clothes. The nezumi was gone.  
"Hermione, what are you doing?" a red haired boy asked. The boy beside him was smiling slightly, his green eyes sparkling behind his round glasses.  
"I . . . . . " she began helplessly.  
The red haired boy laughed. "For once, the great know-it-all-Hermione, doesn't have an answer."  
"Well, I can't answer everything. Whoever these clothes belong to is a new student though," Hermione said, collecting her wits about her.  
"How can you tell?" Harry asked.  
"That's easy. There's an equipment list in the left pocket," Hermoine said confidently. "Along with an acceptence letter. I wonder who this, Yuki Souma is. . ." she murmured.  
Yuki, meanwhile, had gotten away. He entered Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions and waited until he popped back into existence as a human. Then he dressed himself quickly and slipped out of the store, silently promising to return and pay for the clothes.  
He headed straight for Gringots, the Wizarding Bank. He was bowed in by a goblin at the door - a rather unnerving experience.   
At the counter he gave the goblin his account key. (Something that Akito had arranged as soon as he got his letter.)   
Within a couple of minutes he had his stolen pockets full of money and was on his way back to the robe shop.  
Entering he quickly approached the counter. "I'd like to purchase this robe, and several others," he said to the lady.  
"Hogwarts?" the woman asked kindly. Yuki nodded and within moments he was being fitted for new clothes. He was also being very careful not to run into anyone.  
  
************************  
  
Kyou was walking along with a sour expression on his face. Behind him trailed at least twenty stray cats, and all of the pet shops that sold cats were filled with the sound of meows. People were starting to look at him strange.   
He scowled at anyone who dared to look for too long, but as an eleven year boy he was much less intimidating then before.   
He tried to make the cats go away, but they wouldn't leave. "Go on, scram!" he snapped angerily at the furry cats. They looked at him and blinked their eyes lazily. Briefly, he considered making a break for it while the cats had their eyes closed, but he already knew how that would end.  
After trying uselessly to escape, he did the only thing that he could. He went up.  
It was in his nature to go to the highest area when he wanted to be left alone. With those instincts taking over, he spotted a tall white building and began to climb.   
Gringotts had never been climbed like that before. A sea of furry cat bodies began to surround the base of the building. People began to gather, but no one could explain why the cats' were acting like they were acting.  
Kyou didn't care anymore. He was safe from both prying eyes and the cats. Finally he had some peace and quiet. Now he could come up with a plan to defeat Yuki and finally be accepted into the zodiac.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa was lost. Somehow or some way she had gotten separated, but that was okay. She was just looking around for her stuff. And the others would turn up eventually.   
In fact, she had a feeling that Kyou was near the bank. Or at least the strange collection of cats assembled around there was indicating that.  
She looked at the list in her hands. The list that had the stuff that Akito had ordered everyone to gather. She started to look for a shop that might sell some of the stuff that she was looking at.  
The first thing she spotted however was a broom. Not just any broom either. It was sleek and beautiful.   
"This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a steam-lined, surefine handle of ash, treated with a diamond hard polish and hand-numbered with it's own registrations number. Each individually selected twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance and pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has as acceleration of 150 miles an hour in ten second and incorporates an unbreakable Braking Charm. And it can be yours - if you have the skill to approach this!" a man said.   
He pulled a tarp off of a cage revealing a snarling beast that greatly resembled a tiger. "Tame the beast and win the broom."  
Kisa slipped in closer, watching wizards and witches try spell after spell to put the tiger to sleep or even, in a couple of cases, to kill it. They were starting to scare the creature.   
It wasn't a tiger, at least not a usual tiger. This was a magical tiger, that much was obvious to the young girl by the feel in its emerald gaze. It roared loudly - causing several people to shriek.  
**He's scared. . .** Kisa thought. She started for the latch to open the cage up, intending to slip in and help calm the creature. Her empahty with tigers was making it impossible for her to leave.  
A tall burly man was yelling at the man who was holding the competition now. "What's yer problem? You're scaring the poor thing to death!"  
"It's just a mindless beast, and it's part of the fun."  
Hagrid scowled furiously. "Now you hold on one second-"  
"I'll tell you what. Whoever tames this beauty will not only take home a Firebolt, but also the Fire Tiger!" the man said. Several people gulped visibly, and Hagrid set his jaw and turned towards the cage just as a small girl slipped open the latch and stepped inside the cage.  
"Wait!" he shouted. Several people screamed as she placed her hand on the tiger's head and it sat down.   
She turned towards the crowd, her honey colored eyes wide. "You're all scaring him. Go away," she ordered.  
No one left. Instead they all stared at her in disbelief. Hagrid finally found his voice and forced the man to keep up on his promise. Then he led Kisa and the tiger away from the crowd.   
"What's yer name?" he asked her. In the street they were being given a wide berth due to the unchained Fire Tiger that was following behind them.  
"Kisa Souma," she responded quietly. She was holding the broom to her chest. "I'm looking for a store where I can buy these things," she said. She showed her list to Hagrid.  
"Hogwarts, eh?" the big man said. "Well as it so happens I work at Hogwarts. I'm the Keeper of the Keys and the teacher for Care of Magical Creatures."  
She turned her honey colored gaze towards him and brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Can you tell me. . . . .what are the people like there? The other students and teachers," she clarified.  
"Oh, that all depends on the individuals, why?" Hagrid asked. The girl beside him was quite strange.  
"No reason in particular," she said softly. She clutched the broom tighter, memories of the laughter of her classmates slipping through her mind.  
"Tell ya what, why don't I introduce you to a couple of them, and you can make up your mind for yourself," Hagrid said. He had just spotted Harry, Hermione, and Ron. He started to wave them over, but stopped when he realized that they were heading straight for him.  
"Hagrid, please tell me that this creature isn't going to be at Hogwarts this year," Ron said immediately.  
Kisa cringed.   
Harry noticed right away. "He's not talking about you. He's talking about that creature behind you."  
Ron blinked, completely missing the frightened look on her face. All that he saw was the Firebolt. "Is that really a Firebolt?" he asked in amazement.  
Kisa blinked. "Na-na-nani?" she stammered.  
"Huh? What did you just say?" Harry asked.  
"I believe that it's Japanese for 'what'," Hermoine said.  
She tucked her chin to her chest and tried to disappear, but Hagrid clapped a huge hand across her back. "This is Kisa Souma, she's one of your class mates.   
"But that's really a Firebolt!" Ron interjected. He stepped closer to her and reached his hand out.  
"Ron, you should be a bit more considerate," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter, and these are my best friends, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasely." He held out his hand to her.  
"She's having a bit of trouble finding all the stuff that she needs," Hagrid said. "Maybe the three of you could help her out."  
"What a great idea!" Ron exclaimed happily. "Can I hold your Firebolt?"   
"Well, then, I'll see the whole lot of you at Hogwarts," Hagrid said. He patted Kisa gently on the shoulder and winked. Then he walked away.  
"What's the first thing on your list?" Hermione asked.  
"I need to get my textbooks. . " Kisa said.  
"Well then, let's go. We have to get our new books too," Harry said.   
It was only ten minutes later that they realized that the Fire Tiger hadn't followed Hagrid when he left. He was following Kisa and them as well.  
  
************************  
  
Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame made there way to the Apothecary. Inside it smelled horrible, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls.   
Hatori went straight to the contour and asked for three supplies of basic potion ingredients.   
Behind him he could hear Shigure and Ayame planning jokes already for the new school.  
**How did this happen? I'm in hell,** he thought  
"Let's buy this," he heard Shigure whisper to the snake. He tensed and risked a glance behind him. The dog was holding a silver unicorn horn.  
For the life of him, Hatori couldn't imagine what they were planning on doing with it. So he did the only thing that he could think of. "What are you doing to do with that?"  
"Use it in a joke of course," Shigure said. "We need some beetle eyes too. This is going to be great."   
Hatori's eyes widened when he saw the wide array of things that they were purchasing. **I don't want to know** he thought. **I really don't want to know**  
He turned back to the counter and finished purchasing the required ingredients. Then he waited while Shigure and Aya purchased their prank materials.  
  
************************  
  
Momiji trailed behind Tohru as they entered Flourishes and Blots. He had realized that everyone was getting separated and had attached himself to Tohru's arm. Hana and Uotani were also with him.  
"Tohru, look at all these books," he gasped.   
"Yeah, look at the prices . . . . ." Tohru added. She still had her plans to finish high school on her own, but this was too much for her.   
"If psycho boy wants to pay for the books, then let him," Uotani said dissmissively. "He's entitled to do what he wants, and it's partially his fault that we're here like we are."  
"Uotani, is right," Hana said. She turned to the man behind the counter. "We need four copies of each of these books," she said.  
The man gulped visibly as she turned her creepy gaze onto him. He took the list from her hands and quickly raced off to find the required books.  
She stopped beside a collection of curses. "I should send some of these home to Megumi," she said. She was referring to her younger brother.  
Tohru looked at the books, a slightly shocked expression on her face. Name curses; how to make them last longer by Oumi Nom. "I see, that's right, Megumi does like curses. . . ." she said.  
"Who's Megumi?" Momiji asked brightly. He was bouncing around the store looking at everything.  
"My little brother," Hana said.   
He stopped bouncing when her gaze fell on him. Quickly he crept closer to Tohru. Hana still was freaky, and he wasn't sure if she was a friend of his despite living with her. "Uhmmmmm, didn't Akito have Ha'ri," he made a cutting off motion with his left hand.  
Hana's facial expression didn't change. "He certainly did, but it didn't work on my family."  
Momiji swallowed hard. "Right, well, I'm going to see if anyone needs my help," he said. He quickly raced further into the book store to help the man getting there textbooks.  
Uotani laughed. "Great going, you scared him."  
Tohru laughed lightly with her friends. This was going to be fun. She was going to a new school in a different country. She was going to get the opportunity to meet all sorts of new people.  
  
  
************************  
  
"Kyou if you don't come down right this second, then I'm going to come up to you!" Kagura shrieked. She was standing at the foot of Gringotts bellowing at the top of her lungs amidst a sea of purring cats.  
Several people looked over at her, but she didn't pay them any attention. "Get down here NOW!" she shouted.  
There was no response from the top of the building. "THAT'S IT, NOW I'M MAD," she shouted. Then she was rapidly climbing the building.  
There were the sounds of a scuffle from the roof, and seconds later a young boy with orange hair came leaping from the top of the building. He landed in the amidst of the cats and took off running.  
Moments later Kagura was chasing him down Diagon Alley.  
  
************************  
  
Hatori watched Kagura chase Kyou off the roof and down the street. He turned his attention back to Aya and Shigure. "They were in Weasely's Joke Shop. A shop that sold wizarding jokes, and they had been there for the better part of an hour.  
The two wizards who ran the shop - twin boys with fiery red hair - had just graduated the year before. Both of them were interested in someone taking up the cause since they weren't at Hogwarts anymore.  
He didn't want to know what they were being told.  
Finally he cleared his throat. "We still have to get our wands, and it's getting late. It was nice to meet you - "  
"I'm Fred and this is George," one of the boys said. Hatori didn't comment. He could see the difference between the two of them rather easily and knew that the one who had spoken was George, not Fred.  
He forced a smile. "Aya pay for your stuff then lets go," he said.  
"Aya quickly paid. "Bye-bye," he said and pranced out the door behind Hatori.  
"What's the deal with that bloke?" George asked Shigure.  
"Oh, do you mean Ha'ri? He keeps us from getting in too much trouble for our jokes when we get caught, and the rest of the time he stops us from getting caught."  
  
************************  
  
Haru cursed silently. Somehow he had ended up alone with Akito again. As soon as they had entered the alley everyone had disappeared. Yuki had left first, and Haru had moved to follow him, but Kyou had pushed past him and gotten him turned around.  
When he looked to where he had last seen the rat, all he saw was a couple of boys and a girl.   
Then he had turned to see it the others had any idea where Yuki had gotten off too. There had been no one there except Akito. "Damm," he had cursed under his breath. That hadn't been his intention at all.  
They had went to the bank first, noting the crowd of cats at the bottom, and gotten some wizard money. Then they headed straight for the book store. They had gotten the books. Then they got their potion supplies, followed by a brass scale and two pewter cauldrons.  
In fact they got everything they needed in barely anytime at all. Everything that was except their wands.  
Ollivanders Wand Shop was the last place that they went. Opening the door, they were greeted by a small fish eyed man who spoke quietly to them. "Let's see. . . .wands," he murmured.  
He started with Akito. "Which is your wand arm?" he asked.  
"My right hand," Akito said coldly. He wasn't sure if he liked the little man with the big eyes and wispy gray hair.  
Mr. Oliivanders pulled a long tape measure with silver marking out of his pocket. "Hold out your arm," he commanded. He measured Akito from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and around his head.   
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of powerful magical substance, Mr. Souma. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail features, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, phoenixes, or dragons are the same. And of course you will never get such good results with another's wand."  
He gestured to the tape measure to drop and started to flit around the store, pulling boxes off the small narrow walls.  
The door opened and Kagura and Kyou stepped into the shop. Akito looked at both of them sharply and they stepped up beside Haru, watching Olivanders search for a wand for the head of the Souma family.  
Within the next several moments Yuki arrived wearing brand new clothes - all of it was new. Momiji, Tohru, Hana, and Uotani were not that far behind him.  
Akito brought another wand swinging down only to have it snatched from his fingers as Olivaders decided that it wasn't the right kind. He frowned angrily at the aggressive nature of the little old man.  
Hatori entered with Shigure and Aya reluctantly trailing behind him.   
"Try this one, twelve inches oak with unicorn hair," Olivanders was saying. He handed a wand to Akito and cheered in delight as the wand let out a trail of red and gold sparks.   
Akito knew immediately that the wand was his. "How much?" he asked, his fingers closing around the hilt. He paid immediately and then tucked the wand into his sleeve.  
The others were all situated with their wands quickly. Tohru ended up with a wand that was ten and a quarter inches long. Swishy and made of willow with a phoenix feature core.   
Uotani on the other hand ended up with a sixteen inch wand made out of oak with a unicorn tail.   
It took Mr. Olivanders a long time to find a wand that was suitable for Hana, and in the end she had picked one out herself. Nine and a half inches. Dragon heartstrings with a black ebony wood.  
Somehow those who knew her weren't surprised. "That's a good wand for curses," Mr. Olivanders commented.  
"Not to mention the color. . . . it's black, and that's Hana's favorite color," Uotani said while touching a couple of the wands.  
"Don't touch! Don't touch!" he had squawked. He pushed her hands away and turned to Yuki and Aya.  
Yuki and Aya ended up with twin wands. Or at least the unicorn tails the cores of their wands were made off were from the same unicorn. Yuki's was thirteen inches and ash. Aya's was eleven and three quarters of an inch and made of holly. Yuki wasn't pleased to have twin wands with his brother, but the owner insisted that the 'wand chooses the wizard'.   
Aya was really happy. He decided that the wand thing proved that they were finally getting closer as brothers.  
"This is soooo great. You guys are finally getting to know each other better," Tohru said happily.  
"This is horrible," Yuki muttered as Aya tried to get him to hug him.  
Shigure bounced about with the owner when it was time to buy his wand. "This is so exciting," he cheered. He had a long dogwood wand - seventeen inches to be exact - with a phoenix feature core. "And to think, it's dogwood," he added.  
Tohru smiled brightly at him. "Well, I guess it really suits you," she told him.  
"I wonder if my will by bunny wood!" Momiji piped up causing Kyou to hit him in the head. That of course dissolved the small boy into tears.  
Mr. Olivanders wasn't phased at all though. He just rubbed his hands gleefully to gether and turned his measuring tape to Kagura and then Kyou.  
Kagura received a mahogany wand, ten inches, with a phoenix feature core. Kyou got a yew wand that was five inches long.   
"Well, I guess that proves how big you are," Yuki said softly.  
"Dammit! Take that back!" Kyou roared. He was pulled off balance by a happy Kagura though, and couldn't fight with the rat.  
Mr. Olivanders found the perfect wand for Hatori on the first try. Viate, fourteen inches, with a dragon core," the old man said.  
As soon as his fingers closed around the wand he felt warm and tingly and . . .different, like he had just woken up. He decided that it was just the feeling you got when you got a new wand.  
"Me next, me next!" Momiji hollered loudly. He ended up with a swishy willow wand that was good for charm work with a phoenix feature core.  
"That leaves just Haru-san," Tohru said.   
"And Kisa, but she's not here," Yuki said.  
"Kisa Souma already came in earlier," Mr. Olivanders said while he was measuring Haru. "She left with a maple and unicorn hair, rather springy. Eight inches and good for transfiguration."  
"That's nice," Akito said dismissively. "Hatori, let's return to the motel now. I'm feeling rather light headed."  
With those words most everyone left the shop. Haru was left alone with the creepy old man and Hana who was watching everything with interest.  
Eight hours later his arms were starting to hurt, and Mr. Olivanders had yet to find him the perfect wand.  
"He needs two wands," Hana finally decided.  
Mr. Olivanders, who looked really happy, raised his gaze to hers and nodded. Haru shivered as some silent understand was passed between the two of them.   
They started handing him wands in combinations. Mr. Olivanders was humming, and Hana looked pleased. They were sitting in a pile of discarded wands. Every wand in the store was on the floor. Haru had touched them all at least once.  
Finally he had two wands that both lighted up and heated his fingers.   
One of them was a deep black ebony with a fiery phoenix core, fourteen inches long. The other one was slightly shorter and made out of a light ash with a unicorn core.  
"Two wands for one wizard. I must say that this is most unusual," Mr. Ollivanders said.  
Haru didn't say anything. One way or another he had been forced to purchase two extremely expensive wands.   
  
Thank-you for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	3. Train to Hogwarts

Kings Cross Station was bustling with people. The Souma family arrived in several cars, and unloaded their trunks onto trolleys before they looked at their tickets.   
"What's the platform number?" Hatori asked Ayame who was looking at his ticket.  
"Nine and three quarters," Aya said. "The train leaves at 11 o'clock sharp so we had better get over there right away."  
"What kind of fool are you?" Akito hissed. "There is no platform nine and three quarters." The gray eyed head of the family looked as if his temper was about to snap.   
Hatori quickly interjected, protecting the snake from the rain of blows that was about to come showering down on him. "What's the real platform number?" he asked.  
Aya, oblivious to the danger his light comments were placing him in, responded flippantly. "I told you, it's nine and three quarters." For emphsis he flipped his silvery hair.  
"Let me see that!" Yuki snapped. He pulled the ticket out of his older brother's hands and quickly avoided being hugged by the silver haired boy.  
He stared at the ticket, his violet eyes wide, and the ticket stared back at him. The platform number was reading nine and three quarters. At first he couldn't believe the ticket, then a suspicion grew in the pit of his stomach. Aya had rigged the ticket to say what it said.   
"Well, what's it say, you damm rat?" Kyou demanded impatiently as several little girls walked by giggling at him.  
Before Yuki could respond, Tohru spoke up. "Well, my ticket says nine and three quarters too," she said. "Maybe we should ask for directions from someone . . ." she started towards a uniformed man.  
"Wait one second. It's probably the same as Diagon Alley," Uotani said.  
"You mean?" Momiji said. He had his wand in his hand and was heading towards the ticket vendor between platforms nine and ten. The look on his face said that he wanted to tap the walls with his wand.  
Kyou hit him in the head. "Put that away," he said stiffly.  
"WAhhhhhhhhhh! Kyou's picking on me," Momiji wailed.  
Tohru put her arm around him to shield him from view. "It's okay, he's just trying to help," she told Kyou. "You shouldn't be so mean to him."  
"Yeah! Tohru-kun likes me!" Momiji exclaimed happily and moved to give her a hug.  
Hatori absently reached out and caught him by his collar, pulling him back from the brunnete.  
"So then the platform is nine and three quarter, is it?" Akito said softly. "Find it, and find it now." He would never admit it, but he was getting lightheaded from standing for so long without pause.  
The Souma's split up and tried to find the missing platform, all of them moving discreetly, but by 10: 49 they still hadn't found anything. "I'm going to - " Hatori began to say, but his words were lost as the others arrived.  
Shigure along with Kisa, Hana, and Haru had come in the second vehicle. Because Haru had gotten lost in the hotel lobby, and it had taken Hana forty-five minutes to find him. They had all of their stuff on trolleys.  
"What seems to be the problem here?" Shigure asked brightly.   
"We can't find the platform," Yuki answered shortly. After looking for the correct platform for a little over an hour he, along with several of the others, was grumpy. Momiji, Tohru, and Aya were still as bright and chipper as usual.  
Kisa raised her hand timidly. "It's the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Just walk through it. Potter-san said that it would be best to take things at a run if your nervous."  
"Who's Potter-san?" Tohru asked. "When did you talk to him?"  
"In Diagon Alley. He helped me find my stuff and told me about the platform. He said that - "  
Momiji didn't need to hear anymore. "Come on Tohru," he said. He burst into a run pushing his trolley and dragging Tohru and her trolley.   
They hit the barrier and vanished from sight.  
Akito nodded, deciding that because he was light headed and needed to find the barrier, Kisa could be excused for not telling him about meeting a wizard earlier. "We don't have enough time to go in solo, so we'll move in groups. Haru, you're with me. Let's go."  
The ox started at the mention of his name, then cursed silently as he realized that he was going to be with Akito again. They both moved through the barrier and dissappeared from sight.  
Uotani and Hana went next. "Why waste any more time? Hana asked. She didn't run through the barrier at all. Calmly, she strolled over and walked through with the Yanki on her heels. They vanished from sight.  
Kagura grabbed Kyou's arm. "We're going through together," she said and ducked through with the cat on her heels. Kyou could be heard cursing softly as they went through, but not wanting to cause a disturbence in the train station he kept from protesting.  
"Aya, why don't you and Shigure go through next?" Hatori asked.   
Shigure and Aya looked at each other and grinned. "Let's go," they shouted. "Together we will burst through all barriers!"  
"Come with me Aya."  
"But of curse ''Gure-san!"  
"With you by my side I'm unbeatable!" Shigure said.  
They both gave each other the thumbs up sign and laughed.   
In the meantime, Yuki had walked through by himself. "Those idiots. . . . . ." he could be heard muttering.  
"Kisa, you should - " Hatori started to say, but at that moment, Aya bumped into a woman and was turned into a snake. Fortunently not many people noticed.  
Hatori quickly approached the lady and made her forget about the incident along with several other people who had seen the transformation.  
  
************************  
  
With Aya and Shigure causing such a big fuss, Kisa slipped out to the car and returned with the Fire Tiger on her heels. She quickly slipped past the barrier, pushing her trolley in front of her.  
A bright red train met her eyes. She quickly headed to the last compartment and tried to shove her chest into the proper place.  
"Oi, you're taking him to school!" Ron exclaimed. He caught a corner of her trunk and helped Harry heave it into the storage compartment.  
Kisa nodded. "Of course. The letter said that we could bright a cat." She had thought a lot about how to get her tiger to the school and that had been the loop hole that she needed.   
Harry and Ron exchanged looks quickly. "They said that you can have a cat, but I think that they rather were hoping that you would have a house sized cat not a tiger," Hermonione explained.  
Kisa blinked her eyes and laughed, surprising herself. "I think so too, but I couldn't leave him behind. He wanted to come, and I can get around that rule if I try hard enough," she said.   
"Did you give him a name yet?" Harry asked. He was fingering his sleeve nervously and thinking. ** She's going to get along great with Hagrid. They have the same passion**   
The small girl nodded vigorously. "I've decided to name him Frost," she said happily. "It suits him, don't you think?"  
"Not really, no," Ron said. "I think that he looks more like a stoked fire, but then if you like the name, then that's all that really matters, right?"   
Kisa smiled brightly and nodded.  
  
  
************************  
  
Haru followed Akito to the front of the train. The very first compartment. Then they stowed their stuff and sat down.   
"Name's Draco Malfoy. Who might you two be?" a slick blond boy asked. He had a permeate sneer on his face or so it seemed.   
Haru didn't like him at all and quickly toned the boy out. He really didn't want to go black in front of Akito. It was always hard to say exactely what Black would be up to.  
Akito on the other hand decided that he was going to make conversation. "Akito Souma," he said. "This is Hatsuharu, he's my cousin."  
Haru grunted a reply, but only distantly.  
"Well, this is Crabble and Goyle," Malfoy said. He went on to introduce several others. "So, which house to you think you'll be sorted into?" he asked several minutes later.   
"House?" Haru asked. He tuned into the conversation in time to hear the words house. "What do you mean by sorted into?" he asked. "If you mean that we'll get branded you got another thing coming!"  
Before either Akito or Malfoy could say anything, Haru's question was answered.  
"There are apparently four houses, and while your at Hogwarst you will live in one of the houses and the people there will be like family for you!" Shigure said loudly.  
"I just know that I'm going to be in Slytherian. It's got a snake for a symbol, how could I not be there!" Aya asked brilliantly. He spun around flamboyantly.  
Haru tuned the conversation out again. It was just like a dorm room at a college. He didn't have to worry about that any. He had been worried about being penned like an animal.   
"What took you three so long?" Akito demanded coldly. He turned his attention away from Malfoy and towards the green eyed boy who had just climbed into the compartment.  
"We had a little bit of an accident in the station. I took care of it," Hatori said.  
Akito nodded and then turned back to his conversation with Malfoy. Shigure and Aya began to write names down on a piece of paper.  
Hatori didn't bother to ask what the list was for. He already knew. They had a list throughout high school for all the people that they wanted to play jokes on. He was willing to bet that the same thing was true for Hogwarts.  
"Oi, what are you two doing?" Malfoy demanded. He hadn't returned to his previous conversation with the head of the Souma family yet.  
"Hmmmmmm?" Aya said looking up. He had been drawing snakes twisted like hearts at the top of his blank list.  
"I asked what you're doing?" Malfoy reapeat, irratation in his voice.  
"I'm imagining what it's going to be like in Sytherian house," Aya said. "Do you think Yuki will have the same house as me?" he added, looking at Shigure.  
"You say that you'll be a Slytherian? I doubt it. You're not smart enough. Probably be a Hufflepuff. They're realy stupid, although not as stupid as those Gryffindors, and you're brother. . . . if he's anything like you, he'll be the same," Malfoy said coldly.  
Having someone like Aya in his house wasn't something that he wanted to happen at all.  
Shigure smiled offered his hand to Malfoy. "Shigure Souma, what's your name?" he asked brightly.  
"Draco Malfoy. . . . . .why?" he asked, looking at Shigure's offered hand in disgust.  
The inu only smiled and wrote something at the top of his list. A single name, Draco Malfoy.  
  
************************  
  
Yuki sank into a chair and closed his eyes. His whole world was swimming. He felt rather light headed all of a sudden, and he couldn't explain why. He was having a hard time breathing.  
It was probably a combined effect of spending the night sharing a room with Haru and Akito and the difficult time they had finding the train.  
He sighed heavily. Just pulling air in and out of his lungs was painful. He passed out.  
And there was a POOF. He transformed into a rat due to too much stress.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru and Momiji waited for Hana and Uotani then they packed their trunks into the storage compartments and found a place to sit.   
The train started to move away from London rapidly. Momiji bounced around happily chatting with Tohru.  
"This is so much fun!" Momiji chirped. On his shoulder he had a fluffy white bunny rabbit. He had decided that instead of a cat, owl, or toad he was going to have a bunny. "It suits me best!" he explained.  
"What will you call her?" Tohru asked.  
"Momichihi!" Momiji had exclaimed. It was his nickname, and he decided to name it after himself.  
"I think that this bunny is pregnant," Uotani said.  
"It's electric signals are pointing to that," Hana said.  
"That's great!" Tohru exclaimed happily.  
Just then the door opened and a plump witch came in pushing a cart with snacks on it towards them. "Would you children like some snacks?" she asked.  
"Would we ever!" Momiji exclaimed. He quickly bought several armfuls of candies and chocolates.  
Then they were tearing into the packages. "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans," Hana said. She was holding the package in her hands.   
"Let me try one!" Momiji exclaimed. He popped one of the beans in his mouth. "Yeah! It's carrot flavored!" he cheered.  
"Chocolate frogs. . . . . ." Tohru said. She opened the package and a frog leaped out. "AHHHHHHHHHHhh!!!!!!!!!" she screamed.  
The door was flung open and Kyou charged in. "Tohru, what's wrong?" he demanded. Kagura was right behind him. They had been searching the train for the onigiri since the train had left the station. The car that they were in was the second from the last and both had began to worry that Tohru had accidentally gotten lost and missed the train.  
"The frog moved," Tohru explained nervously as soon as she found her voice.  
Kyou looked around, but didn't see any frogs. He looked away, his eyes falling on what looked like a package of jelly beans. "May I?" he asked, his stomach rumbling painfully with hunger.   
Momiji smiled and tossed him the package. "Try one, they're really good."  
Kagura sat down beside Tohru and Uotani. "Can I have one of the chocolate frogs?" she asked. She had leaned foreword and read the package name.  
"Just be careful, they seem to move," Tohru said, still slightly shaken from her experience with the frog.   
"If it tries to escape, I'll fry it with electric waves," Hana spookily promised. Tohru laughed lightly and handed Kagura a package.  
The boar opened it up, and immediately the frog started to leap away. It was fried just as quickly. "There," Hana said quietly. "Now you can eat it."  
Kagura pushed the package away from her and turned towards some of the other sweets. The electrically fried frog suddenly lost it's appeal.  
A gagging sound behind them drew their attention to Kyou. "Leeks! It tastes like leeks!" he wailed. He was scraping one of the Bertie Botts every flavor beans off the roof of his mouth and his tongue.  
Momiji started to laugh, and the others followed suit. No one paid any attention to the electrically melted frog.  
  
  
************************  
  
On the way to the bathroom, Haru spotted Yuki. He looked around quickly, noting that nobody seemed to have noticed the young boy's transformation.  
He quickly gathered the rat and the clothes up and headed off in search of Hatori.   
While Hatori was looking over Yuki, Akito was having an argument with Malfoy. The snotty blond haired boy had said something about Haru being stupid after he had left, and the head of the family had taken it personally.  
Just as they were about to come to blows there was an explosion. Under the cover of the smoke that resulted from Yuki turning back into a human, Aya and Shigure played their first joke.  
When the smoke cleared they were no where to be found. Yuki was dressed and being treated in human form by Hatori. Akito was laughing lightly and Haru had fallen asleep.  
Of course Malfoy's hair had tiny beetles beaded in it, and a unicorn horn was sticking out from the middle of his forehead.  
He tried to pull it off, but it was stuck with super glue. Because magic didn't work well on unicorns, spells would also prove difficult to preform to get it off.  
Aya and Shigure high fived each other outside the door. There first joke had been performed. Now Malfoy had to attend the opening ceremonies looking like a beetle horned freak.  
  
**********************  
  
A loud voice boomed over the loud speakers. "We'll be arriving Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."  
Kisa blinked worriedly. "Potter-san, do you think that you could take Frost to the school for me? He gets frightened if I leave him alone for too long."  
Harry gulped, but agreed to watch the giant Fire Tiger for the young girl. "Only if you think he'll behave," he warned. "I don't want to get into trouble."  
"Frost'll behave," Kisa promised and whispered several things to her tiger. He slowly turned and walked over to Harry.  
The train slowed right down, and finally it stopped. People pushed their way out of the train and onto a tiny, dark platform. Kisa shivered with the cold night air.   
Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and she heard a familiar voice. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! How you doing there Kisa?" Hagrid asked. "Harry, Ron, Hermione," he added a quick greeting for his young friends.  
"C'mom and follow me," he boomed. "Firs' years follow me!"  
The Souma's all gathered together and followed Hagrid down the path that led to the lake. "No more then four people per boat!" Hagrid called out. He pointed to a fleet of little boats that was floating in the water.  
Tohru, Hana, Uotani, and Momiji all climbed into a boat together. Shigure, Aya, Hatori, and a boy that they didn't know got into the next boat. Kagura, Kyou, Yuki, and Kisa all rode across in one boat. Akito and Haru were in the same boat which pissed Haru off a lot, but not enough to make him go Black.  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	4. The sorting ceromony

The tall, burly man raised a gigantic fist and knocked on the castle door three times.  
  
The door opened at once and a tall, black haired witch in emerald green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Akito sneered at her. He decided right away that he didn't like her at all.   
  
"This is all the firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.   
  
The stern witch nodded and pulled the doors open wide. "I'll take them from here," she said. "Thank you Hagrid."  
  
The students followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor and up a flight of stairs. She stopped after entering a small, empty chamber off the hall.   
  
They all crowded in, everyone Souma or not avoided crowding Akito, and no one dared to get to close to Hana either. Of course the Jyunnishi were careful not to have anyone run into them either.  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family - "  
  
"I hope not," Yuki muttered softly with a slightly look towards Akito. It the house that he was sorted into was anything like the head of the family he was determined to commit Seppeku on the spot.   
  
McGonagall didn't seem to hear him talking. She continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room - "  
  
At that point Kyou muttered something about their free time being directed making it not free time, but Hatori silenced him before anyone heard.  
  
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn your house points while any rule breaking will have points taken away. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope that each of you will be an asset to your house.  
  
The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest that you take a couple of moments to smarten yourselves up."  
  
Her eyes fell to Momiji who was bouncing up and down beside Tohru and Kyou who had several visible bumps and bruises from when Kagura had caught him the day before.  
  
"I shall return when we're ready for you," she said. "Please wait quietly."  
  
She left the chamber and Aya and Shigure began to talk. "This is going to be soooooooooooooooo fun, don't you think Tori-san?" Aya asked.  
  
He had changed from the required black robes into a flamboyant purple robe that accented his silver hair.  
  
Shigure hadn't changed, but he was smiling and coming up with awful plans, Hatori just knew it.  
  
Momiji was cheerfully talking about which house he wanted to be in. Haru started to doze off. Yuki and Kyou had an argument about Kyou's intelligence that ended with the orange haired boy being plowed into the ground by Kagura. Kisa paced back and forth, hoping against hope that Frost was okay, and hadn't gotten attacked by anyone yet.  
  
Then it happened. Through the wall floated several pearly white people. Momiji screamed like a girl and leaped towards Tohru's arms only to be knocked to the ground by an irritated looking Kyou.  
  
"WAHHHHHH! Kyou's picking on me!" he wailed as usual.  
  
The ghosts stopped in the midst of their conversation to stare at the strange blond boy crying on the floor.   
  
"There, there," a fat, little monk ghost said kindly. "Everything's all right. Some people are just nasty like that."  
  
Some of the other ghosts cast glances at a spooky looking ghost with a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. The ghost didn't seem to pay them any attention. Instead it floated over towards Akito.  
  
Hatori stepped in front of it. "What do you want?" he demanded coldly.  
  
The ghost blinked slowly at him. "Get out of my way. . . . ." he warned darkly. He stopped moving towards Akito though.  
  
"Who are you?" Haru demanded, drawing the bloody ghosts attention to himself. In response the ghost floated through another wall and was gone.  
  
The fat ghost answered. "That's the Bloody Baron, and I'm the Fat Friar." The ghost turned back to Momiji, who looked like he could use some comforting still. "I hope that you get into Hufflepuff. That's my old house and I know that you'll like it there."  
  
Momiji looked up at the ghost. "Really?!" he asked in surprise.  
  
"Yes, and I'd give you a hug, but alas, I'd pass right through you. . . . " the Fat Friar answered.  
  
Then Professor McGonagall returned. "Now, form a line," she ordered. "And follow me." She motioned for the ghosts to move along which they reluctantly did.  
  
The Main Hall was huge. It was lit by thousands of tiny candles and had four table stretching out and a fifth table for the teachers that over looked the rest. Their were hundreds of faces staring at them like pale lanterns in the flickering light.  
  
Of course, nobody stared at Hana for too long. She gazed at them wearing what for her had always been typical clothes - a black cloak like robe. The pointed black hat was new, but there was nothing that about her that said she was different from before.   
  
Professor McGonagall set down a four legged stool. On top of that she put a pointed wizards hat. For a few second there was silence then a tear opened up at the brim of the hat and it began to sing.  
  
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find,   
A smarter hat then me.  
  
Shigure wrote something down. "Find a smarter hat then him," Hatori read. He shook his head and listened to the song.  
  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
  
"Is he talking about me? I'm always bawling," Momiji whispered to Tohru.  
"He's talking about a hat," Yuki interrupted. "Pay attention before we get in trouble."  
  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,  
And I can cap them all.  
  
Shigure clarified that he wanted the Hogwarts Sorting Hat to eat itself as soon as he learned what it was called.  
  
There's nothing hidden in your head,  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you,  
Where you ougta be.  
  
Akito sneered when the hat mentioned that their was nothing hidden in his head that he couldn't see. He was full of secrets after all.  
  
Haru started to get mad. Was the hat implying that he was stupid? That he didn't have anything in his head? It would be sorry if it was.  
  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring nerve and chivalry,  
Set Gryffindors apart:  
  
Well, Akito will never be in there," Hatori muttered softly.  
"What about you?" Shigure asked.  
Hatori didn't answer.  
  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,  
And unafraid of toil;  
  
**And that's where Shigure will go** Hatori thought.   
"Ewww. . . . I don't want to be a Hufflepuff. They sound to much like dogs with all that loyalty stuff," Shigure said.   
Hatori hung his head. "You are a dog. . . . " he whispered.  
  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
  
**There' absolutely no one in the Souma family like that. Everyone's crazy,** Hatori thought.  
  
  
Or perhaps in slytherin,  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means   
To achieve their ends.  
  
At that point, Hatori decided that there was going to be a fair amount of Soumas living in Slytherin.  
  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap.  
Your in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"  
  
Everyone cheered, especially Aya who thought it was wonderful to have a hat that could talk. "Bravo! Bravo!" He called out excitedly.   
  
"When I call your name you will put on the hat, sit on the stool and wait to be seated," Professor McGonagall called out.  
  
She began calling name after name. The first member of their group to be called was the first student to be called. "Arisa Uotani!"  
  
The tall, blond Yankee walked over and put the dirty hat on her head. After a second the hat spoke. "GYRFFINDOR!" it exploded.  
  
The table on the far left burst into applause and the tall girl put the hat down and went and joined them.  
  
Kisa looked the table over, but didn't see any traces of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She hoped that they were all okay.  
  
For a while no one from their group was called. The Honda Tohru, was announced.  
  
Tohru went up to the hat and put it on her head, a swirly expression on her face. She sat down beside the stool with a thump just as the hat declared which house she was to be in. "HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted.  
  
Tohru put the hat back and staggered to the table on the far right that was cheering. The other tables were laughing at her seat taking skills as she sat down beside the chair that some of the veteran students offered her.  
  
"Saki Hanajime," McGonagall called out finally. The electric girl stood up and started walking towards the hat.  
  
"SLYTHERIAN!" the hat said before she had even taken two steps. She turned and walked to the silent Slytherian table and sat down beside Malfoy.   
  
"I believe that you laughed at Tohru Honda. You had better not do that again if you don't want to get an electric shock," she warned, taking an immediate disliking to him.   
  
Her voice carried throughout the entire room and Malfoy's face paled. Several of the teachers looked worried, and Tohru was blushing furiously.  
  
The Sorting continued. Finally it reached the first Souma.   
  
"Souma Akito," was called and the head of the Souma family strolled to the stool and reached for the hat.   
  
He had barely put the hat on his head before it was screaming Slytherian. He went to the table with Hana and sat down.   
  
He was feeling quiet light headed and feverish. He blinked and focused on the Sorting as best as he could.  
  
"Souma Kagura," was called out. Several students began to whisper as Kagura marched over to the hat and jammed it down on her head. There were two Soumas! "Slytherian!" the hat called out.  
  
The girl pulled the hat off and sat as far away from Hana and Akito as possible. She didn't want to get to close to the head of the family.  
  
"Souma Ayame," McGonagall called out, frowning as she realized that her list wasn't in alphabetical order like she had thought it would be.   
  
Aya pranced over to the hat and stuck it on his head. "Wish me luck 'gure-san!" he called out. "I'm going to be in Slytherian."  
  
Sure enough, within a couple of moments, the hat declared him a Slytherian. He pranced over to the table and dropped down beside Kagura.   
  
By the time that Kyou's name was called, "Souma Kyou," almost everyone was certain that he was going to be in Slytherian. Everyone except the hat that was. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat declared.  
  
Kyou moved to the table on the far left, thankful to be as far from Kagura as possible.  
  
"Souma Kisa," McGonagall said. **How many more Sohmas?** she wondered. **Are they all directly related?** She hadn't read the list all the way through yet and didn't know about this many children from one family at one time.  
  
The small girl placed the hat on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. She stood and quickly hurried to Kyou's side once the hat was taken off her head.  
  
"Souma Shigure!" McGonagall exclaimed.   
  
Shigure bounced up to the chair and put the hat on his head. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.  
  
"Oh no! 'Gure-san, we'll have to sleep apart."  
  
"But no fear, Aya, for in the daylight hours we will be together!" Shigure called out.  
  
"And we'll strengthen the bound between me and Yuki-kun my younger brother!" Aya shouted.   
  
They were moving towards each other with happy smiles on their faces. In the yet-to-be-sorted-group, Yuki's eyes narrowed in rage. How dare his brother act like that!  
  
"Go sit down, both of you!" McGonagall ordered. Neither of them listened, they were still talking about what a wonderful time they were going to have.  
  
"Sit down, both of you," Professor Dumbledore said. Neither of them listened.   
  
"Ha'ri! Make them shut up!" Akito finally shouted. He sprang to his feet and shot mental lasers at the two of them. Neither of them noticed.  
  
All of the teachers tried to make them sit down, but none of them could succeed.   
  
Hatori quickly moved past Professor McGonagall. "Ayame go sit down," he said sternly.  
  
The silver haired boy turned towards Hatori with a smile on his face and bounded over to the Slytherian table. "Shigure, don't get him going. At least wait until the term has officially started at least. . . ." he added.  
  
McGonagall stared at him in surprise, but Hatori turned and walked back to the assemble group of first years. There were only Soumas left in that group. Everyone else had already been sorted.  
  
"Soh -Souma Yuki," McGonagall finally managed to say.  
  
Yuki walked over to the hat and set it on his head while sitting down. After a few seconds the hat declared his house. "Slytherian!" He stalked to the table and sat down as far from Akito and Aya as humanly possible.  
  
"The gap! The gap brother. Each and every moment that we spend together will help us bridge this gap!"  
  
"I hope. . .that it becomes a chasm!" Yuki snarled.   
  
"Souma Hatori," she called out. The boy who had made Aya sit down walked over to the hat and calmly placed it on his head.   
  
The hat screamed out, "RAVENCLAW!" for the first time with a Souma. He walked over and sat down by himself. The other Ravenclaws cheered loudly. He was actually the only new Ravenclaw that they had gotten that year.  
  
"Souma Momiji," Professor McGonagall called out.  
  
"That's me, right!" the young boy said exuberantly. He ran over to the chair and tripped over it in his excitement. Falling onto the floor, his head landed in the hat.   
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat called out in a slightly muffle voice.  
  
"Gomen ne," Momiji apologized to the hat as he righted the chair and ran to join Tohru at the Hufflepuff table.   
  
"Do you think that we can sleep in the same bed?!" he asked her happily.  
  
Kyou shot across the room and dropped his fist on the blond boy's head. "Don't be perverted," he ordered.  
  
"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Kyou's picking on me Tohru!" he wailed. She patted his head and he fell silent.   
  
"They just got to sort Haru-san and then we can eat," she said.  
  
"Souma Hasuharu," McGonagall called out. It was the last name on her list and she was really happy that it was. Even if there were a lot of them, they didn't take very long to be sorted.  
  
Haru walked over to the hat and sat down, putting it on his head. The hat opened it's mouth. "GRY-" it started to say, but fell silent. A moment later it opened it's mouth again and started to say, "Sly- " but once again it fell silent.  
  
Four hours, twelve minutes, and twenty-three seconds later it finally decided. "BLACK HARU TO SLYTHERIAN, AND WHITE HARU TO GRYFFINDOR!" the hat declared.  
  
Kyou choked. "Don't you go be giving Black Haru a place to belong," he warned. "It's best when he's away!"  
  
After that the room erupted in chaos as Black Haru objected to being told that he didn't deserve a place to belong. He objected by putting his foot in Kyou's face.  
  
"What's the meaning of this" Snape hissed.   
  
Of course on one really could explain. Hatori finally appointed himself with the explanation.   
  
"Hatsuharu Souma has a split personality. One side, Black Haru, fits best into Slytherian, while the other half, White Haru or just Haru, fits best with Gryffindor."  
  
"A split personality?" Madam Pomfrey questioned.  
  
"Yes, we had a problem similar to this earlier when he purchased his wands. He had to get two of them - one for black Haru and one for White Haru. At the time I wasn't aware of the reasons behind that, but I suggest that you accept the decision of the hat and just adjust to having two different house claiming different pieces of the same person."  
  
Dumbledore pulled at his beard thoughtfully. "But how will we be able to tell them apart?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, I think that you'll manage. If you'll all clearly remember, Haru was quiet well mannered up to this point, correct?" Hatori pointed out.  
  
The teachers and students nodded, keeping one eye on Kyou who was fighting for his life. None of the teachers seemed to be inclined to help him.  
  
"Black Haru on the other hand is rather violent. He's in a word 'dark'. I suggest that you all try and avoid him but when he's here, he's a Slytherian."  
  
"I agree," Dumbledore said. "Now if you'll all retake your seats, we'll eat quickly before bed."  
  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	5. It's time to eat!

Kissa peered over at Haru's table - he was sitting with the Slytherian's because he was still black. He seemed to be really pissed of at Malfoy.  
  
"That hairstyle is offensive!" she could hear him saying.  
  
Malfoy was caught between indignant anger and outright fear. It would have been funny if Haru was just teasing him, but right now, right now it was more then a little unnerving.  
  
"Oi!" Ron said. "We got Frost in," he sat down beside her.   
  
"Sorry that it took us awhile. How was the Sorting? Were you nervous?" Hermoine asked.  
  
Kissa nodded her head vigourously. "I was really nervous. Super nervous. I - I've never seen so many faces all looking at me before. It scared me really bad."  
  
"But look where you are now, there's nothing to fear, but fear itself," Hermoine said wisely.  
  
Kissa shrugged. "I though that everyone was going to laugh because the hat would decide that I don't belong at Hogwarts. I guess he's the one we had to worry about though." As she spoke, she nodded her head towards Haru who was making his way over from the Slytherian table.  
  
He sat down across from Kissa and started helping himself to some food.   
  
"Hey!" Ron protested.  
  
Kissa put her hand over his. "He's white Haru right now," she explained. "The Sorting Hat put him into Gryffindor and Slytherian."  
  
"At the same time!" Hermione gasped. "That's never happened before - ever!"  
  
"What makes you so sure?" Haru asked.  
  
"I read Hogwarts; A History at least twenty times," Hermoine said.  
  
"And that's only about this thick," Harry said spreading his arms apart as far as he could.  
  
"No, it's a bit thicker than that, but I think you get the idea. Ever time someone goes to the bathroom, someone must record it there. How else do you explain how big they got it?" Ron added.  
  
"Hogwarts has a long history and many things have happened hear. Take last year for example," Hermoine said deffensively.  
  
"Whatever," Haru said. "Kyou's right, Black Haru doesn't need a place to belong. Giving one to the side of a person that emerges when he can't control his temper is bad. What if I do something that says I need to be expelled when I'm black? Then what? Do we both get expelled?"  
  
"I wouldn't think so. You . . . . . ." Hermoine began.  
  
  
************************  
  
Hatori was by himself at the Ravenclaw table. As the only new student for that house he was getting a lot of hellos, but everyone was falling in with their own groups of friends.  
  
Typically the new students try and make friends with other new students, but in his case that wasn't possible.  
  
He didn't mind at all. Having Shigure and Ayame for friends was going to prove to be very trying indeed. Already they had began to stir the hall, although not nowhere near as bad as Hatsuharu had.  
  
His vision blurred for a second and he felt like there was wind on his face. A stiffling wind that was laced with the scent of jasmine. A vision of the sun setting filled his eyes, and then he was back at the table with another Ravenclaw welcoming him to his new house.  
  
Hatori put his hand to his forehead, determinded to check and see if he was coming down with a tempeture. It had been cold on the boats and it would be rather easy to catch a cold.  
  
No sooner had the thought trailed through his mind then he was up and manuvering straight for the Slytherian table.   
  
He stopped behind Akito and put his hand to the usually younger boys head. Abnormal high boby tempetures met his fingers and palm. He sighed heavily, and picked Akito up as best as he could.  
  
"His electric currents are somewhat sparatic," Hana said. "It seems to only be a slight cold."  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid so. Could one of you please direct me to the hospital wing?" he asked Malfoy.  
  
"No," the slick blond boy said.   
  
Hatori nodded his head to Aya, silently giving him permission to play the majority of his jokes on Malfoy - the nastier majority.  
  
He started towards the door, Akito slung over his shoulder. Walking by the Gryffindor table he slowed. "Kissa, open the doors for me," he ordered.  
  
"H- Hai! Is Akito-san going to be all right?" she stammered.  
  
"If I can find the medical wing the chances are greater, but he gets this type of cold all the time, so I'm fairly confident that if I can find him a bed he'll survive."  
  
Harry stood up. "I could show you where the medical wing is," he said.  
  
"That would be appreciated," Hatori said.  
  
Kissa opened the door and Harry showed Hatori the way to the hospital wing.  
  
************************  
  
Kyou was definetely not liking his life at the moment. Apparently the section of the Gryffindor table that he had sat down at was slotted for getting practically nothing but leeks.   
  
Leek stew, leek salad, fried leeks: it was all disgusting. It made him want to barf so he did.  
  
"Damm leeks!" he cursed angerily as he flung his fork down. "I won't sit here and take this kind of abuse!"  
  
"Oh relax, If I can bear to be seperated from my beloved Aya, then you can stand to eat a few leeks," Shigure said.  
  
Kyou felt his temper snap and he almost overturned the table in rage. That would have been bad considering that he would have crushed half of the students on the other side of the table.  
  
A sharply hissed, "Bakaneko," brought him up short however. He spun, a wild look in his red eyes.   
  
"Who the hell are you to talk, you damm rat!" he shouted. He swung his fist towards Yuki, who had of course intervened.  
  
Yuki eyed the fist and easily stepped outside of its attack range. "You're really asking for it, aren't you?" he snapped.  
  
"Guys!" Tohru cried out she was heading for both of them a top notch speeds when she tripped over a chair.   
  
POOF! they distinctely heard. Then Tohru was standing up, having shoved Momiji's clothes underneath the table along with the little bunny rabbit.  
  
Under there it would be safe if he turned into a human, and he'd be able to get dressed.  
  
The accident reminded them of where they were, and they both turned and went back to their own seats.   
  
"I'll finish you later," Kyou sulked as Yuki headed away.  
  
"Wow! Do you take martial arts lessons?" a small red haired girl asked.  
  
Kyou nodded.   
  
"That's great! I'm Ginny Weasely, what's you name?" she asked.  
  
"Kyou Sohma," he answered.   
  
Yuki sat down, watchin Kyou associate with the people around him easily. He heard some of them laughing and some of them teasing. In contrast the Slytherians were all gathered uncertaintly around Aya.   
  
"It was my destiny to be a snake!" he exclaimed. "I just know it!"  
  
At least the boys were gathering around him. The girls seemed to have an unatural attraction to Hana.  
************************  
The meal ended, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. "Ahem - just a few words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term announcement to make.  
  
First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few older students will do well to remember that as well."  
  
Aya and Shigure made eye contact, both of them finding a new rule to break. And both of them wondering if Dumbledore knew that they were really older then they were pretending to be.  
  
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."  
  
Everyone turned to look at Mr. Filch. Kyou looked away almost immediately. He had a sudden feeling that the whispy old man and himself weren't going to be getting along very well.  
  
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Ayone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch." Dumbledore cleared his throat.  
  
"Now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" he sounded rather exuberant about that even though he was obviously tired. He gave his wand a little flick, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it.  
  
The ribbon rose high above the tables and twisted itself into snakelike words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!" the head master of the school said.  
  
And the school bellowed:  
  
Hogwards, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwart,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Out heads could do with filling  
With some interresting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Tust do your best, we'll do the rest,   
And learn until our brains all rot.  
  
Everybody finished the songs at different times. Aya and Shigure were particularily happy about the results. They were standing on the table applauding as the last singers died away.  
  
"Bravo! Bravo!" Aya called out. He turned towards Yuki - still standing on the table - "Let's sing it again, brother, just you and me!"  
  
Yuki turned his head away disdainfully. "Don't make me gag," he hissed angerily. He wouldn't look at Aya.  
  
The snake quickly hurried over and sat down beside him. "Yuki-kun! I know that you really want to get to know me," he said loudly, boisterously.  
  
"Ahem," Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Everyone off to bed now," he said with a shoing motion.  
  
Everyone rose and started to leave.  
  
************  
A/Notes;  
  
This is actually still a continuation of the previous chapter. I just noticed that it had gotten too long so I broke it into two parts.   
  
I'm not sure what I want to happen next. I guess it would have to be the first day of classes, but I'm open to suggestions. . . . . .Please R&R!!!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	6. Nighttime and getting to bed

The Slytherian first years were supposed to be following some 'prefect guy?' But the only perfect guy that Kagura knew was Kyou, and she was starting to miss him.   
  
She headed out after the Gryffindors. "Kyou! Where are you going? I can't let you sleep in a room with other woman, I just can't," she said. There were tears in her large blue gray eyes. Her lower lip was trembling.  
  
Kyou froze and slowly turned to look at her.  
  
"I missed you so much at dinner," she said. "Why didn't you come and sit with ME!" The last word was more of an angery snarl as she shot foreword and clocked him in the mouth.  
  
"DAMM YOU! WHY DON"T YOU LOVE ME!" she demanded.   
  
Kyou took off running, but didn't get very far. Kagura seized him and smashed his into the wall several times.  
  
"Stop that right now," the Gryffindor perfect ordered.  
  
"Oh, don't mind them. They've been like this as long as I can remember," Shigure said brightly from behind the perfect. "Kagura is in love with Kyou, this is just her particular way of showing her affection." He smiled, but the perfect didn't.  
  
"I have a Slytherian student attacking a Gryffindor student. I am going to go get a teacher," he snapped.  
  
"Oh, by all means, feel free," Shigure said. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "What did you say your name was?" He tried to look innocent, but failed.   
  
"What are you up too?" the perfect asked susupiciously.  
  
Shigure fingered the tip of his nose lightly. "Kagura, I think that you should go find Yuki and the others in Slytherian. You wouldn't want to get lost now would you?" he asked.  
  
Kagura stopped beating on Kyou. "Oh, right. See you tomorow, Kyou!" she exclaimed and then kissed the barely concious boy on the mouth. "Love you, bye-bye!"  
  
Then she was gone.  
  
"Now, what did you say your name was?" Shigure asked. Maybe, just maybe he had found another person to play pranks on.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru wandered down a hall - lost. The Hufflepuffs had been following their perfect and she had somehow gotten seperated. Now she was in a stuffy dark corridor that streched out in all directions and had no doors.  
  
She was cluthching her hat to her chest, tears rolling down her face when she heard the first signs of trouble.  
  
There was a scraping noise - like nails on a chalk board - coming rapidly down the corridor. Sparks were flying from the end of a metal bar that was scraping along the wall.  
  
Tohru screamed. The bar was floating all by itself. Despite her terror, the usually happy girl couldn't move.  
  
There was a loud pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the metal bar.  
  
"OOOOoooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firstiy all alone! What fun!" He swooped at her suddenly. She screamed and ducked.  
  
The 'thing' was flying towards her again. Tohru got to her feet and ran! She ran and ran and ran.  
  
CRASH! she collided with a suit of armor. Seeing the armor gave her an idea. Within seconds she was wearing the armor and carefully hidden from sight. *What is that thing?* she wondered.  
  
There was a zooming noise and she heard a voice. "Ickle Firsty, where are you?" She didn't answer. Silent tears of fear were dripping off her face.   
  
"Peeves, what are you doing here?" she heard an old voice say.  
  
"There's an ickle firsty out of bed," Peeves the poltergeist said.  
  
"You don't say," the old voice said again.  
  
Tohru didn't dare move. She heard them move away from her hiding place, but wasn't sure that they were gone. She refused to move until she knew it was safe.   
  
Weary from the days events, she fell asleep in the suit of armor.  
  
************************  
  
"Madam Pomfrey tried to make Hatori go to bed, but the young boy refused. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on him," he said subbornly.  
  
"It'll only take a couple of moments and then he'll be all better," the witch said waving her hand dissmissively. She seemed to find Hatori's concern amusing.  
  
She started to mix several ingrediats together. "There," she said once she was done mixing. She took the liquid over to a slightly delerious Akito.   
  
She tried to make him open his mouth, but he bit her hand. "Get away from me," he hissed.  
  
Hatori sighed. It was the same as at the main house. Akito wouldn't let anyone treat him except the dragon.   
  
"What is that?" he asked the witch.  
  
"It's a draught that'll make his fevor go away," Madam Pomfrey said. She was clutching her bleeding hand to her bossom.  
  
"Well, then give it to me, and I'll have him take it."  
  
"Is he the same as the other boy? The one with the silver hair, Sohma, I believe was the name. . . . ." Madam Pomfrey asked.  
  
Hatori shook his head. "He'll listen to no one except himself. He's always been like that, and I don't imagine that will change anytime soon. However, he trust me to take care of his illnesses, and I do my best to keep him healty. He'll drink the draught if I ask him to."  
  
The witch seemed to consider that for a moment. "Make him drink it in two gulps and pinch his nose on the second one," she said.  
  
Hatori gave the medicine to Akito. "How long before the medicine takes hold?" the dragon asked.  
  
Madam Pomfrey nodded to the bed where Akito was already better and sitting up. "Nearly instantaneous," she said. "Now off to bed with the both of you."  
  
Hatori hesitated by the door. "Arigatou," he said. "And just as a warning, Akito is sick for long periods of time. Don't be surprised if you see a lot of him, and if he gives you any trouble at all, send for me."  
  
Madam Pomfrey nodded and made a shoing motion once more. Hatori nodded and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked Akito.  
  
"Of course," the head of the family sneered.  
  
They made their way first back to the Great Hall, but since it was empty, they headed out on their own.   
  
"Just how do you expect to find the Slytherian house without any help?" Akito snapped.  
  
Hatori didn't answer. Within a couple of moments they were heading down towards the dungeons.  
  
The cooridors were damp, which was disturbing for Hatori. It would make it much easier for Akito to get sick if it were damp and cold.  
  
He stopped by a strech of blank wall that had a chalk outline of a white snake drawn on it. "Well, here we are," he said softly.  
  
He had asked Aya to put a snake beside the door to the Slytherian common room, but it seemed like the snake had gotten confused.  
  
The wall opened and Aya popped out. "Oh, Tori-san! I thought that you might have gotten lost."  
  
"I'll take Akito-san -" he started to say, but Akito had pushed past him and was walking up the stairs to his room.  
  
"Good night," Hatori said. "Go to sleep, and don't even think about sneaking out. Not tonight, at least not tonight."  
  
It was only several moments later that he realized that he didn't know where his common room was. He had been too busy thinking of Akito and had forgotten to think about himself once again.  
  
************************  
  
Momiji cried loudly as soon as he realized that he had lost Tohru, but there was nothing he could do. The girl was gone, and he didn't want to be grabbed and hugged by the perfect - Jessica Wetick. She had threatened to put him in a great big bear hug if he dissappeared from the group of Hufflepuffs.  
  
She was built like a bear too! She had to be at least seven feet tall, and she was twice as wide as Momiji was, maybe even three times as large, but she wasn't fat. Just big.   
  
Momiji stopped crying as soon as she had offered him a hug to comfort him. The Hufflepuffs seemed like a very touchy feely type of people. Momiji was silent as he followed them down the hall.  
  
If he wasn't careful one of the "Hugglepuffs" was going to find out about his secret. He didn't want that to happen. In fact that would be bad with Akito so close. He didn't want Akito mad at him, but all the same he wanted Tohru to be safe.   
  
"Wetick, ma'am, do you think that. . . . well, you see that Honda-san -" he began again.  
  
The procession came to a stop in front of a picture of a fuzzy bunny wearing a pink ribbon.  
  
"This is the enterance to our common room. Everyone listen closely. I'm going to tell you the password," Wetick said. "Honey Bunny."  
  
Momiji choked. "Honey Bunny," he repeated.   
  
"Yes," Wetick said.  
  
The portrait of the bunny swung open revealing a cheery looking room filled with plush chairs and bright colors.   
  
Momiji entered the room with a look of glee on his face. He ran from one end of the room to the other. Touching and feeling everything. He forgot - for a moment - about his missing friend.  
************************  
  
The Slytherian common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greeish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece.  
  
Hana sat in on of the high-backed chairs by the fire, her violet eyes traveling across the group of third and fourth years who she was playing cards with. "You really suck at this," she said simply as she won for the eightith time in a row.  
  
She spotted Yuki heading up the stairs and caught his attention with a slight electric shock and a soft shout. "Sohma-san, you should join us. It's more fun with more people."  
  
Yuki came over. "I'll have to decline this time Hana-kun. I believe that I'll get some sleep before classes start tomorow. You should probably do the same."  
  
Hana didn't say anything as the young boy headed up the stairs to his room. "Strange boy," she said after he was gone.  
  
"Ahem, we're going to bed too," one of the third years said nervously. Within a couple of moments they had all fled from her company.  
  
Hana raised an eyebrow and sat in the chair, looking spooky until Aya came prancing down the stairs.   
  
He opened the door and let in Akito. Hana listened to the conversation he had with Hatori, and watched Akito go to bed.  
  
Then she stood up and walked to her room slowly.  
  
Entering she noted the four four-poster beds with the fluffy pillows and green and silver bedspreads.  
  
"That won't do at all," she said softly. She pulled her wand out from her sleeve and set about making the room perfect.  
  
She only used a simple color changing spell, but the effect was just what she wanted. Now the room looked like it was supossed too - dark and mysterious.   
  
Then she changed into her silk black nightgown and climbed into the bed. Within moments, she was asleep.  
************************  
  
Kisa fell into her four poster bed. It had been a long day with tons of things happening. Probably the most exciting thing, or at least unusual thing had been when Haru had gotten placed into two houses. Or maybe it was when the chocolate frog had moved. Sleepily she closed her eyes.  
  
The bed shifted slighting and her eyes opened. Frost climbed into the bed with her. "What the hell!" she heard Uotani shout. The blond girl pulled her long wand out and prepared to hit the tiger with it.  
  
"Wait! Frost is my pet!" Kisa exclaimed. Her roomates, Uotani and a couple of other girls, were looking at her skeptically and a little fearfully. Kisa leaned back and patted the bed beside her. "Lay down and sleep," she told Frost.  
  
"Can you explain that better?" Uotani fianlly demanded. The other three girls were backing away from Kisa.  
  
"The paper said that we could bring an OWL or a CAT or a TOAD," Kisa said. "I brought a cat. It's really no big deal. If they didn't want tigers here, then they shouldn't have put 'cat' as a pet option."  
  
Uotani sighed and put her wand away. "You Soumas really are strange," she commented before climbing into bed herself. "You!" she added, pointing at the other three girls. "The tigers trained only to attack boys so you don't have to worry," she lied. Of course she hoped that it was the truth.  
  
************************  
  
Haru, who had turned black on the way to Gryffindor house, was now climbing the staircase in the Slytherian house.  
  
He entered his room, noting that only half of his stuff was in the room. Then he noted that both Aya and Akito were in the room.  
  
"This can't be my room," he said firmly.  
  
"Why not?" Aya asked. "And where's Yuki-kun?" The silver haired boy was wearing a frilly night dress with small snakes twisted into heartlike shapes.  
  
"I don't know, but - " Haru began. He was starting to gain back the anger that had been bleeding off while he had been searching for his other bed.  
  
"Just get in the bed and be quiet," Akito hissed.  
  
Haru froze as Aya bounced for the door. "Where are you going?" he asked as he got into his bed like Akito had ordered.  
  
"To look for Yuki-kun, of course," Aya said. Then he was out the door and Haru was alone with Akito once again.  
  
'This is really starting to piss me off,' Haru thought angerily.  
  
************************  
  
A/notes,  
  
Well, now I have a question. Just who should be the new defense against the dark arts teacher?   
  
This is set during Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts and I hope to have it completed by June, but I need a teacher. Any suggestions?  
  
Please R&R!!!!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	7. Get up and don't get lost

There were a hundred and forty -two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Haru was getting the feeling that the suits of armor could walk.  
  
He stopped walking, completely lost. "Damm, he muttered. "It's easy enough for me to get lost in a normal school. Just how does anyone expect me to find my way around a place like this?"  
  
He reached for a door and tried to pull it open without success. He twisted the handle to the left as far as it could go and pushed. Then he pulled. Then he turned the handle and push and pulled again.  
  
The door simmered, and a gray stone wall appeared. Haru blinked stupidly, and pushed against the wall with his shoulder. It felt solid, but he had seen the door. Obviously that meant that the wall was here to try and make him leave.  
  
He pulled out his wand, trying to think of a good spell, but he really didn't know any. Sighing heavily, he put the wand away. Since he had tried most of the other doors, the only way to get back to an inhabited portion of the school would be to go through the door in front of him.  
  
He was just getting ready to knock the wall down when Professor Sprout rounded the corner.  
  
Sprout was a plump woman with fizzy hair and a good natured smile. "Are you lost, dear?" she asked kindly.  
  
Haru shook his head. "No, I just have to open this door," he said determinedly.  
  
"Door? There's no door there. That's just a wall that pretends to be a door," Sprout said. "It gets rather confusing, but give it a couple of days and you'll be an expert on the location of everything in this school."  
  
"Not likely," Haru said. "And this is a door. I saw it, so you can't tell me otherwise." In spite of his protests, he let Professor Sprout lead him away from the wall-that-was-really-a-door.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru blinked her eyes open sleepily. It was almost time to start breakfast and she had the feeling that she had been up for a long time the night before. Slowly she remembered the sorting ceremony, and a weird dream that she had about being chased by a little ghostly man.  
  
She raised her hand to her eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. A loud clang sounded as her armored hand hit the helmet.   
  
"Ouch!" she exclaimed, taking a step back and crashing into the wall. The impact jarred her, leaving her a little confused. She pushed herself foreword, but was quickly overbalanced and forced to windmill her arms furiously.  
  
Her flailing arms paid off as she connected with something with enough forced to send her back into the wall with another loud clang.   
  
This time she didn't bother trying to push off the wall. Instead she started to strip out of the armor quickly. "I can't believe I managed to put all of this on in a few seconds," she muttered to no one in particular.  
  
She finished piecing the armor together with no one inside before she noticed what she hit. In a crumpled heap on the floor was a black haired man wearing black robes. He looked like he was unconscious.  
  
Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, dropping to her knees to check on the unconscious Professor Snape.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa made her way down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were already down there. They had offered to escort her to the Great Hall, taking a round-a-bout course that would show her where all of her classes were.  
  
"It's rather easy to get lost at Hogwarts," Ron had said as they had entered the common room the night before. "Even people with the best sense of direction are sure to get lost if they don't have an idea about where they're going."  
  
"Oh. . . . ." Kisa had murmured. Then she had stayed up trying to find Haru without any luck. There was no doubt where he was now - lost.  
  
"Good morning," Harry said socially. His black hair was sticking up in all directions and his glasses looked a little crooked.  
  
"Good morning," Kisa repeated softly. "How did you sleep?" she inquired conversationally. She didn't want a repeat of the situation she had at her old school. For now, she would try her best to stay active in normal school conversations.  
  
"Horrible," Ron muttered sleepily. He had the beginnings of a black eyes showing around his right eye.  
  
Hermione looked like she always did, but she kept casting disapproving glances at Harry and Ron.  
  
"Who did you get in a fight with?" Kisa asked.  
  
Her soft tone of voice threw Ron off for a moment. "The Womping Willow while we were going to visit Siru-" he began before Harry elbowed him sharply.  
  
Kisa could see that he was trying to come up with a way of hiding whatever Ron had been saying, but he was having trouble. She smiled. "I don't need to know. I just wanted to make sure that no one was picking on you. . . ." she said. "Could you still show me around even though I pryed into your life?"  
  
"Of course," Hermione said quickly, still shooting death lasers at Harry and Ron. "Come on, let's leave these two behind."  
  
Kisa followed Hermione out of the common room, noting that they had all seemed relieved when she had stopped prying into their late night escapade  
  
************************  
  
Shigure pranced down the hall behind a group of sixth year girls. As the eleven year old boy he appeared to be, none of them seemed to suspect anything perverted about him following the girls.  
  
No one except Kyou. "You're really perverted, you know," the orange haired cat stated flatly.   
  
"A little look never hurt no one," Shigure pointed out. "And since I'm only -"  
  
Kyou punched him in the mouth, dropping him to the floor. "Listen you pervert," he hissed. "Just cuz' you look like you're eleven, it doesn't change the facts. A man you're age has to look for women your own age - "  
  
"Ewww!' Shigure exclaimed, popping back to his feet. Before anything else could be said, both the cat and the dog heard the familiar sound of Tohru's voice, and it sounded like she was in trouble.  
  
They quickly hurried in the direction her voice was coming from.  
  
When they found her, she was on the ground beside the crumpled heap of the potions teacher.   
  
"Oh dear. . . ." Shigure muttered, noting the large bruise forming on Snape's left cheek. "I think that it's best to get out of here before he wakes up."  
  
"Uhhhh. . . . yeah," Kyou agreed. He went to pick Tohru up and move her out of the hall without much success. All that he achieved was turning himself into a cat.  
  
"Oh, that was a good move on your part," Shigure muttered sarcastically.  
  
"Meow," they both heard behind them and froze. Standing with her blood red eyes trained on them, Ms. Norris stalked foreword.  
  
"Isn't she . . . " Shigure muttered.  
  
"HEY!" Kyou shouted as she started sniffing him. "Get away from my ass, you filthy bitch!"  
  
"You do realize that you're talking to a cat, don't you?" Shigure asked. He had pulled Tohru to her feet.   
  
"Take Kyou away from here quickly," he ordered her. "Before he changes back."   
  
Tohru cast a quick glance at the unconscious man and picked up Kyou. Ms. Norris got a furious expression on her face and attacked her ankles. "AHhhhhhh1" Tohru screamed and took off running.  
  
Ms. Norris was fully prepared to give pursuit, but Shigure grabbed her tail and growled at her. Her tail puffed up in fear like most normal cats' tails do when they are confronted with a dog.  
  
Shigure let go of her and quickly hurried away from Professor Snape as he regained consciousness.  
  
************************  
  
Yuki woke up, noting that the dark green and silver decor of the room seemed to have changed. "Nani?" he questioned, swinging his legs out of the bed and parting the curtain.  
  
"Good morning," Hana said eerily. She had an ebony brush in her hand and was combing her long black hair. She was already dressed in a long black dress complete with black cloak. She painted an eerie picture to say the least.   
  
It wasn't what Yuki expected to see first thing in the morning. "What are you doing here?" he asked.   
  
"This is the girls dorm," Hana pointed out. "You might want to put on a shirt before the other girls wake up. . . . . . . that is, if you plan on staying in here like I suspect you will."  
  
"What!" Yuki exclaimed, pulling a shirt over his head. "Why would I stay in the girls dorm?! I'm a - "  
  
Kagura poked her head out of her bed. "Morning, Yuki!" she exclaimed brightly. She slid out of the bed all the way and Yuki had to close his eyes.  
  
"You sleep naked?" he asked tightly.   
  
"No, you didn't look. I'm wearing a small nightie with pretty little cat heads on it," Kagura said.  
  
Yuki stayed quiet. "Why would I want to stay in here?" he repeated.  
  
"Because, Aya, Akito, and sometimes Haru are your other choices for roommates," Hana said.  
  
Yuki froze. He really didn't want to be mistaken for a girl, but if it kept him from having to sleep in the same room with Haru, who unnerved him, Aya, who irritated him, and Akito, who scared him. . . . . . just what was worse.  
  
"Of course I already talked with Kagura about it and we're both okay with you staying in here so long as you don't try anything funny," Hana said.  
  
"Yeah, so just let us know by tonight what you want to do," Kagura said.  
************************  
  
Akito was sleeping fitfully in his four poster bed. He was probably having an okay dream by his standards, but Aya didn't really mind if he disturbed the head of the families sleep.  
  
"Akito-san!" he exclaimed loudly next to his ear. "Wake up!"  
  
Akito blinked his eyes open, staring directly at Aya's face, which was only a few inches from his. "Nani?" he muttered softly before shouting, "Get the f*** away from my face! And don't presume to tell me what to do!"  
  
Aya backed away, a glimmer of startled fear on his face. "Gomen ne," he said quickly. "It's just. . . . well we have classes, and I thought- "  
  
"Well, stop thinking!" Akito snapped. "You're irritating me, get out!" Then he flopped back in his bed and fell back asleep as the snake let himself out the door.  
  
************************  
  
Hatori was standing outside the Slytherian common room. The emerging Slytherian students were starting to get upset with him, but he had a feeling that he was going to be needed shortly.  
  
The door opened once again and Yuki, Kagura, and Hana stepped through. "Good morning, Hatori-san," Hana said as they passed him by.  
  
"Wait! Do you know if - " he began to ask them, but Aya hit him around his waist and was clinging on tightly.  
  
"Oh, Tori-san, it was awful! I thought that I'd just wake Akito-sama up and he yelled at me and . . . . . " the snake shuddered.  
  
Hatori glanced over at the paused group. "You can go. I'll use Aya," he said. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.   
  
Aya had already popped to his feet. "But you know, Yuki never came to bed last night. . . . I was looking for him, you know. I think I'll just go and - "  
  
"Aya open the door, I have to wake Akito," Hatori said.  
  
He could practically see all of Aya's thoughts dance out of his head as he flung open the door and pranced in. After showing Hatori where Akito was sleeping, he quickly departed.  
  
Several minutes and thrown objects later, Hatori and Akito headed down the stairs and set off towards the Great Hall for breakfast.  
  
************************   
  
Author's notes,  
  
I still need a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm thinking that I'm going to use Bill Weasely. He is after all a curse breaker for Gringots, and I need a familiar character.  
  
My other idea was maybe Snape could finally get the position and use a Time Tuner to be in two places at once.   
  
I'm still open to all suggestions.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	8. First classes

Classes were due to start any minute. Breakfast, which had just ended, had been rather uneventful. Most of the Jyuunishi missed breakfast. Some of them, like Haru, got lost, while others like Kyou, were trapped in their animal forms.  
  
Tohru Honda hadn't attended breakfast. After smashing Snape in the face and turning Kyou into a cat, the girl was slightly disgruntled. Determined not to let anything get her down, she had hidden Kyou and his clothes in an out of order girls bathroom.   
  
"Don't leave me here!" Kyou shouted, his tail twitching as he looked at a pool of water coming out from under one of the stalls.  
  
"Kyou-kun, gomen . . . . . I have to go get some clean clothes from my room and don't think that your allowed in there . . . . ." her voice trailed off as the neko glared lasers at her.  
  
"And since I look like a cat nobody would know," Kyou answered.  
  
Tohru crouched down beside him. "But what if you transformed back while I was going through the common room? Akito-san would probably be very upset."  
  
Kyou's tail twitched again. "If you were carrying me, I wouldn't turn back because you'd be hugging me," he said.  
  
Tohru smiled brightly and patted him on the head. "It's for the best, Kyou. You need to transform back so you can attend classes. I'll be right back, okay?"  
  
Kyou reluctantly agreed to let her go. "Why has it got to be a girls bathroom. . . .?" he muttered darkly under his breath.  
  
Wandering down the hall, it occurred to Tohru that she didn't know where her house dormitory was. She turned around to ask Kyou if he knew, but the staircase had sifted and led in a different direction.   
  
************************  
  
Haru followed Professor Sprout to the doors leading into the Great Hall. The dumpy little teacher smiled at him politely.  
  
"I'll see you at classes later," she said before she left.  
  
Haru waited for a moment and then walked over to the doors. They swung shut in his face. He blinked in surprise and reached out to pull them open.   
  
A sound like a raspberry being blown came from the door, and it stayed closed. Haru blinked slowly. "Did you just . . . . . ?" he asked quietly. In response, the door made another rude noise and the sound of another lock clicking into place snapped his temper.  
  
Black Haru snarled at the door. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You ain't gonna lock me out of no damm room! I've had up to here with you and all your fellow doors attitude!"  
  
And with that, he smashed the doors to the Great Hall to pieces with his fists before anyone realized what was happening.  
  
Professor Flitwick, the pint sized Charms teacher, came running over. "Stop! Stop!" he shouted. "Detention! Detention! Take ten points away from your house! And STOP!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.  
  
Haru stopped kicking the door. He looked at Flitwick darkly for a brief moment. "What?" he hissed. "This - "  
  
"That's enough," Professor Flitwick said. "I believe that you owe the doors an apology."  
  
Haru just stared in shock at the teacher that came up to his knees.  
  
"I'm waiting," Flitwick said, crossing his arms.  
  
Haru sighed heavily and it looked like he was calming down. Then he shot foreword and sent Flitwick flying through the doors with his fist. "Just who the -" he shouted, fully prepared to continue his assault.  
  
Hatori, who had made it to breakfast, caught Flitwick and quickly erased his memory of being kicked. "Haru, go to your classes and don't do that again!" he snapped.   
  
Haru sulked out of the room like a naughty child who felt he was being unjustly punished.  
  
Hatori quickly assessed the damages of the little teacher. Since they weren't bad, he set him down in a chair and waited for him to wake up so he could explain a new series of events for the small teacher.  
  
**********************  
  
Hana, Kagura, and Yuki made their way to their first class of the day. Transfiguration was taught by Professor McGonagall, and they had the whole classroom to themselves.  
  
All of the Slytherians in the room took their seats quietly and waited for the teacher to arrive.  
  
Akito leaned across his desk towards Yuki. "Where were you last night?" he asked softly, a smile stretching across his face.  
  
Yuki froze for a moment, still undecided where he wanted to stay.   
  
"I was looking for you!" Aya exclaimed. "I thought that maybe we could share a bed and tell scary stories and think up jokes to play on other people and -"  
  
Yuki decided to stay in the girls dormitory. "I was in my dorm room," he said. "Looks like we didn't get put in the same room . . . . ."  
  
He let his voice trail off as Haru entered the room with a dark expression on his face. "That dammed idiot! Did he really expect me to apologize to a door?" he snarled. He was obviously Black Haru at the moment.  
  
He dropped himself into a chair and started to slouch before leaping a foot in the air. Not paying attention he had sat down beside Akito. He started to spring to his feet when the tabby cat sitting on the desk transformed into Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Good morning," she said.   
  
Akito sneered at her. Haru snarled at the same time, as his stomach rumbled angrily at the lack of food in it. Neither of them thought that it was a good morning.  
  
"Good morning!" Aya exclaimed. "It's such a beautiful day, but a little on the chilly side, don't you think?" he asked.  
  
McGonagall paused for a moment, looking over the three of them with a serious look on her face. "Slightly," she acknowledged Aya's comment. "Let's begin."  
  
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarst," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."  
  
Then she turned her desk into a pig.  
  
  
  
The pig squealed with delight and sailed through the air, landing on Kagura's lap just as it turned into a desk again.  
  
"Oaf," the sweet looking girl grunted. The desk was really heavy. "Someone get it off me!" she shouted as everyone stared in shock.   
  
Yuki and Hana both stood up, moving foreword to help while Haru went White with surprise.   
  
"What happened?" he asked stoically.  
  
McGonagall quickly waved her wand. "Wingardum Leviosa!" she called. The desk floated up in the air and quickly settle down where it belonged.   
  
Then the stern faced woman quickly hurried over to Kagura. "Are you all right?" she demanded. Her hat was askew and she looked disturbed.  
  
Kagura blinked rapidly and sat up. "I should be fine," she said. "I was mostly worried about my robes. I just finished embroidering them and didn't want to scuff the thread."  
  
McGonagall blinked. "What?" she asked in confusion.  
  
"See, I got little cat heads all over them!" Kagura exclaimed.  
  
Several people leaned foreword to get a better look. Sure enough, in pale orange thread, little cat heads were outlined all over her robes.  
  
McGonagall sighed heavily. "Let's continue with the lesson then," she said. She pulled her wand out again and waved it over Kagura's shattered desk while saying a repair spell.  
  
Kagura, it seemed, didn't have a bruise on her.  
  
Class continued. Akito, who was getting bored with his match that wouldn't turn into a pin, laid his head on his hands and fell asleep.   
  
Kagura match ended up turning the same shade of orange as Kyou's hair. It didn't even get pointy. She looked slightly disappointed in it's performance. "And I wanted to turn it into a replica of Kyou," Yuki heard her mutter.  
  
Yuki's match got slightly pointy both ends, but it kept it's real colors throughout all his attempts. It did turn into the correct shape, which he though was a plus.  
  
Aya's didn't do anything, so he started to braid his hair. The match was rather boring, and his hair was so much prettier.   
  
Hana's match burst into flames when she attempted to Transfigure it. She decided to call it a success. "It's original form is lost," she pointed out to McGonagall. "All that's left is ashes."  
  
McGonagall wasn't impressed. She gave Hana a new match and showed her what to do once again.  
  
After showing Hana the drill, she turned to see Haru heading out the door. "Mr. Souma, just where do you think you're going?" she asked. "You have to wait until the end of class to - "  
  
"I just realized, this class is for Slytherians. . . . . .I'm White Haru right now, so I should be in History of Magick. I'll just let myself out . . . . . " he said slowly.  
  
McGonagall, who still wasn't sure what to do about Haru let him leave the room. Sometime after he left, she noted that his match had been turned into a needle with a nice size eye. She kept in mind to give him five points for the successful task.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa sat through History of Magick with an enthralled expression on her face. The teacher was the strangest thing she had ever seen.   
  
Professor Binns, who was a ghost, had been really old and boring when he had been alive. After dying in front of the staff room fire, he had gotten right back up and continued teaching.  
  
It wasn't that his lecture was that interesting. In fact, it was downright boring. Kisa would have fallen asleep if he hadn't been a ghost. If he didn't keep floating through his desk.   
  
She was diligently taking notes, making sure to copy everything down correctly. Sometimes Professor Binns got his words mixed up.   
  
Hearing giggles behind her, she glanced back just as a boy finished sticking something wet and gooy in her hair. She raised her hand, tentatively touching the goo. It was dripping along hair on the sides of her face, and it was really sticky.  
  
Her fingers got stuck. She tugged, trying to get them loose.   
  
The boys who had played the joke started to laugh louder.   
  
"Let me help," one of them said. It was a dark haired boy with a cruel look on his face. He pulled out his wand, waving in front of her face and making the gooey gel in her hair swell and spill down, engulfing her whole hand before it hardened.   
  
"Oops," he said, an innocence look on his face. "Did the poor little mud blood get her hand stuck in her icky hair?" The others all laughed again.  
  
Kisa stood up and raced out of the room. She woke Shigure and Uotani who had fallen asleep during the lecture as she shot past them.  
  
"Kisa?" Shigure questioned.   
  
"What's wrong with her?" Uotani asked.   
  
"I don't know, she just ran out of here for no reason," the cruel boy said.   
  
Professor Binns continued droning on about Emeric the Evil.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru finally found the Hufflepuff common room. She raced to her room and put on fresh clothes before hurrying down the stairs.  
  
Momiji was sitting on a big, fluffy pastel yellow chair. "Tohru-kun!" he exclaimed. He leapt foreword, remembering not to hug her. Instead, he hugged the air around her.  
  
"Where were you?" he asked.   
  
Tohru smiled. "I got lost," she explained. She hugged the air around Momiji, something they had started doing to make up for all the times they couldn't hug.  
  
"Oh, at least you got back in time. We got Potions in a couple of minutes," he explained. "Actually, we'll probably be a little bit late, but that's okay."  
  
Several moments later they were in the dungeons opening the door to the classroom and stepping inside. "You're late," Professor Snape said. He had a black eye and large bruise on his face.  
  
Tohru recognized him immediately. Her first instinct was to apologize. "Gomen nasai," she said, bowing her head. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be, but I got lost and then this little man - "  
  
"That will be quite enough," Professor Snape said. "Ten points will be taken from your house for your tardiness."  
  
Tohru sat down, feeling that he didn't understand what she was talking about. 'I'll explain after class,' she thought determinedly.  
  
Professor Snape began his class with a roll call. Then he went on to ask some basic questions. Momiji knew the answers to most of the questions. Apparently he had been looking through the book the night before for a potion that would make him transparent.  
  
Wetick, the Hufflepuff perfect that he had been following had been trying to give him a hug all night long.  
  
"There's just something about you that say 'squeeze me,' and I mean to do it!" she had exclaimed.  
  
While he hadn't found the potion to make himself transparent, he had picked up a lot of other information. Professor Snape didn't look too pleased with the results of his first class of the semester.   
  
************************  
  
Kyou sat sulking in the girls bathroom. He was still in his cat form and it was starting to piss him off. Not to mention the fact that Tohru had left his clothes on the edge of the growing puddle of water coming from the stalls. They had gotten wet and it was rather irritating.  
  
He started pacing back and forth. It was getting rather late. By now, he had probably missed his first two classes. Or at least the first one.   
  
He heard a crash as the door flew open. Panicked, he slipped in the water and slid under the stall.  
  
The sound of running footsteps faded as someone opened one of the stall doors and locked it.  
  
Kyou stood up, shaking the excess water from his body before creeping out. The bathroom was no longer safe. He couldn't risk turning back with someone in the room. He caught his clothes in his mouth and crept out of the room silently.  
  
Ms. Norris was standing in the hallway. Kyou raced off, trying to outrun her. POOF! he changed back to human form with his clothes in his mouth just as a group of sixth year Ravenclaws stepped out of their Transfiguration classroom.  
  
Professor McGonagall stepped out after them, hearing them scream in shock. "What is it?!" she demanded. She had her wand drawn and looked prepared for trouble.  
  
Kyou felt like he was caught in the blinding glare of headlights. He couldn't move at all.   
  
At first McGonagall didn't understand what she was seeing. She waved her wand, transfiguring Kyou into a cat.  
  
The cat's tail twitched and it meowed.  
  
Kyou panicked. He was supposed to be able to talk in human form. With fear and adreneline pumping through his body, he tore down the hall, still biting his clothes.  
  
  
  
It was then that McGonagall realized that she had just turned a student into a cat. It had been her second mistake of the day. The second mistake that had gotten a Souma hurt.  
  
She had marked Kyou down for detention but hadn't taken any points away for his absence. Now, while she felt slightly guilty, she decided to take fifty points from his house. That is, she planned to take the points after she found him.   
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
Okay, I stopped so the chapter wouldn't get to big. However, just keep reading because I'm putting the next chapter up at the same time.  
  
Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for all the great reviews.  
  
Kissa-chan 


	9. Students and teachers

Standard disclaimers apply. They apply for all the other chapters too! I've been forgetting to write them, but everyone should know that the Harry Potter and Fruits Basket do not belong to me. . . . kay?   
  
All right, now, on with the fic!  
  
************************  
  
Kisa sank down to the floor. She had tore out of History of Magick, feeling the familiar feelings of shame clouding her mind. She had been hoping that make lots of friends, not be picked up by a boy and his friends.   
  
She was in a girls bathroom. She tugged at her hand, trying to pull it out of her hair without success.  
  
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" a girl's voice drifted through the walls.   
  
Kisa glanced around startled.   
  
"That won't come out easily," the girl continued.  
  
"Who are you?" Kisa asked softly, giving another tug at her hair.  
  
"Me? I'm Moaning Myrtle, of course," the girl said pleasantly. "And this is my bathroom, so GET OUT! she finished with a snarl.  
  
Kisa stood up abruptly, tears brimming in her eyes. She just wanted to be alone. She didn't want anything else to happen. She wanted to lock herself in her room and stay there all day long.  
  
She raced out of the bathroom, noting that the hardened substance was gooey again. She pulled her hand loose and darted out of sight as a group of Ravenclaws went by.   
  
She spotted Hatori in their midst and quickly raced in a different direction. She didn't want him to see her like she was. She couldn't retreat to her dorm. That would be the first place anyone would look.  
  
Then they would laugh, she was sure of it. She found an alcove in forbidden section of the library and hide herself.  
  
************************  
  
Class ended and Momiji was ready to catch a quick bit to eat before the start of the next class. "Come on, Torhu!" he called out cheerily.  
  
"I'll catch up," Tohru responded. She waited until everyone had left then approached Professor Snape's desk.  
  
"What are you still doing here?!" he snapped, his dark eyes flashing with iratation. He stopped writing and waited for her response.  
  
"I just wanted to apologize, that's all," Tohru said.  
  
Snape turned back to his writing. "I believe that you've already been punished. You may leave."  
  
Anyone else would have left. Tohru took a deep breath and clasped her hands behind her back. "I don't think you realize what I'm trying to apologize for," she said. "You see, my mother always told me to be truthful and I can't just pretend that it didn't happen, but you - "  
  
"Get to the point," Snape ordered, his black eyes had gotten a hard glint of suspicion in them.  
  
"I'm trying to apologize for hitting you earlier this morning. It was an accident and I didn't mean to do it. And I just hope that you're all right. I'm so sorry," she tacked on the end of her explanation.  
  
Professor Snape studied her for a long moment. In front of him stood a brutally honest air-head. She had a blue bow tying back her long brown hair, and a worried expression in her large blue eyes.   
  
She wasn't worried about herself. It seemed that she was worried about him and how he was feeling, which was, of course absurd.  
  
Snape couldn't help but be curious. "Why are you telling me this? Don't you know that you can get expelled for hitting a teacher?"  
  
A slightly panicked expression crossed her face. "Well, yes, but I still had to tell you. I. . . . . I had to stay honest. If I didn't say anything, it would eat at me and -"  
  
He wanted to expel. It was in his nature. Expelling the students and crushing their dreams of becoming a witch or wizard was fun. He had all the reasons that he needed to kick her out of the school and yet. . . . he hesitated.  
  
"Why did you hit me?" he asked.  
  
"I was falling," Tohru explained. "You see, last night, I got separated from my group. Then this little ghost like man started chasing me, so I hid in a suit of armor. Then I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was off balance and fell, except I hit you and managed to hit the wall again," she explained.  
  
"Then, I was trying to wake you up, but another friend came by and - "  
  
"That will be enough. One hundred points will be taken from your house and you have detention for the rest of the week." He couldn't expel her for coming clean with her actions. He would make sure that she didn't do it again.  
  
"Arigatou," Tohru said, bowing to show that she appreciated his decision. "And don't worry! It won't happen again!" She left the room cheerfully.  
  
************************  
  
The rest of the days classes had progressed without incident for Kagura, Yuki, and Hana. The three roommates made their way to the library when their last class, Herbology.  
  
"They sure gave us a lot of homework," Kagura complained. "I'm never going to figure any of this out. Although," she added with a sly smile, "I would like to brew a love potion up for Kyou."  
  
"And I would like to capture a Electric Spirit," Hana said, referring to the creature they had studied in Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
The course, which was normally started in the second year only had become available for all students as an extra credit course. Hana and Kagura were both taking it, but Yuki wasn't. He had been in Divination.  
  
He had a sour look on his face. "Madam Twelawny told me that I was going to die. Then she told Akito that she was going to recieve good fortune at the expense of my misfortunent event," he said when prompted.  
  
"Really!" Kagura exclaimed.   
  
Yuki nodded. "I'm not sure that I like her classes . . . . . ."  
  
"Then why did you start taking them?" Hana asked. She had opted to take Care of Magical Creatures classes because she didn't like Madam Twelawny's electric signals.  
  
Kagura wandered away from the two of them and came back with a red book several moments later. "What's that?" Hana asked.  
  
"It's a book about brewing love potions," Kagura said. "I'm thinking about making one for Yuki and Tohru. It would help them confess their love fo- oops!" she clapped a hand over her mouth, looking at Yuki.  
  
The nezumi was staring at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Don't you start making love potions," he warned. "Especially not for me and Tohru. We'll manage just fine on our own."  
  
"I thought so," Hana said. "You love Tohru and want to kiss and hug her, don't you?" She started unbraiding her long black hair. "I wonder . . . . will you actually do anything about it?"  
  
Before Yuki could respond, Aya popped up at the table along with Shigure. "Do you mind if we join you?" the hebi asked. His long silver hair was in a braid and he was wearing pink robes.  
  
Yuki stood up. "I'm leaving," he said. He left the library and headed for his dorm room.  
  
"I'm still going to do it," Kagura said after a moment.   
  
"Do what?" Shigure asked. He was always alert for trouble.  
  
"Yes, what?" Aya prompted, taking his cue from the dog.  
  
"I'll help," Hana said.  
  
"Help with what?" Shigure demanded. He didn't like being left out of the loop. Kagura and Hana had stood up and were packing their books into their bags.  
  
"I'm going to cause a scene unless you tell me - " he began to say.  
  
"I'm surprised that you haven't started yet," Kagura said to distract them.  
  
It worked. Both of them were distracted, but now she had to come up with what they should be starting and it had to be good; Shigure was alert to the possible distraction only intent.  
  
"On turning yourselves into Animagus of course," Hana answered. "I'm sure it would be very interesting to change yourself into an animal whenever you wanted. . . ."  
  
She left the room with Kagura.  
  
************************  
  
Haru started walking down the hall briskly. Then he noticed that Akito, who was following him, was having a hard time with the pace. He slowed down, letting the head of the family catch up.  
  
"Why are you following me?" he asked stupidly.  
  
Akito sneered at him. "Why do you think, you stupid ox? I need to speak with you."  
  
"About what?" Haru asked.  
  
"I want you to - " His words were cut off as Professor McGonagall pounced on an orange tabby cat.   
  
"There!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "I caught you, Kyou Souma!"  
  
"Go fetch, Hatori," Akito ordered Haru quietly. "And don't get lost."   
  
Haru nodded and quickly hurried away. How had Kyou let himself get discovered on the first day of school? The neko had been pulling out all the stops that came before a mistake like this was made. It was their goo luck to have been close enough to catch the confrontation before the whole school found out.  
  
Haru pulled at the handle to a door and it turned into a wall. He curse, remembering Akito's orders but feeling awful because he had already gotten lost.  
  
"Dammit!" he shouted.  
  
"What's the matter?" Uotani asked from behind him. "You lost again?"  
  
"I need to find Hatori!" Haru exclaimed. "Kyou turned into a cat and Professor McGonagall found out about - "  
  
"Found out about what?" Filch, the caretaker asked from behind them. He had come just in time to hear the last part of the conversation.  
  
"Uh . . . . . . . ? Nothing!" they both lied. They put cheesy smiles on their faces and ran away from him.  
  
The kept running, stopping only after the found Hatori.   
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
Uhhmmmmmm, I got a cramp in my wrist, so I'm leaving it there. Please review me. \_/  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	10. Afternoon and night

Standard disclaimers apply.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Hatori was staring stupidly at Shigure and Ayame. Both of them had several thick, leather bound books and pleading expressions on their faces. The fact that they had gotten the books from the Forbidden section of the library didn't seem to matter so much as their reasons for having them were.  
  
"I told you," he said after a moment, "that I'm not going to help you play any jokes on anyone. We are not children anymore, and you would both do well to remember that. Now go and put those books back in the library before you get in trouble."  
  
"Okay," Aya said promptly. He started to turn around, but Shigure stopped him.   
  
"Don't forget about our plan," he told the hebi.  
  
"That's right," Aya said, amazed that he had forgotten about it so easily.  
  
"What plan?" Hatori asked suspiciously.  
  
"We're going to become Animagus," Shigure said proudly. "We want you to become one too!"  
  
"No," Hatori said.   
  
  
  
"Please!" they both begged. "It'll be so much more fun with - " They didn't get a chance to plead their case further because at that moment Haru and Uotani arrived.  
  
"There's trouble upstairs. Professor McGonagall found out about Kyou. We got to contain the problem before everyone knows," Uotani said.  
  
"What she said," Haru added.  
  
"Ha'ri. . . . will you . . . . ?" Aya asked as the doctor was hurrying away with Haru and Uotani.  
  
Hatori, distracted by the news of Kyou's problem, nodded.  
  
Shigure and Aya cheered. "Then that's a promise!" the inu wisely called after him.  
  
"Hai!" Hatori responded as he raced out of the room.  
  
************************  
  
Kyou's little heart was beating a hundred miles an hour. He could barely keep it from leaping through his throat. After nearly an hour of chasing him, Professor McGonagall had caught up to him.  
  
He wasn't about to admit defeat though. He scratched, bit, and squirmed in her grip, but she held firm and he couldn't get loose.  
  
"Hold still," McGonagall ordered in a sharp voice. If anything, it increased the orange cat's struggles.  
  
McGonagall's eyes fell on Akito, who was watching the confrontation with narrowed gray eyes. He looked furious. "Souma, go fetch Professor Sprout. I'll need her help."  
  
"No." Akito's voice fell flatly.  
  
Kyou stopped struggling immediately. He recognized Akito's voice. That meant that his problem with McGonagall was the least of his worries. The head of the family wasn't going to be pleased that he had managed to get himself turned into a cat on the first official day at Hogwarts.  
  
At least he didn't have to worry about everyone knowing his secret. Hatori would probably be along shortly with his memory erasing powers.  
  
As if on cue, Hatori rounded the corner with Haru and Uotani.  
  
"Professor McGonagall, if I could have your attention for a second . . . ?" he requested softly.   
  
"One moment, Mr. Souma," the teacher responded. Since Kyou was holding still she released him, ready to pounce should he try and escape again. She didn't feel up for another long chase.  
  
Kyou didn't move. Instead his tail started to twitch violently. Instinctively, he started to clean himself. He was licking his belly when Professor McGonagall waved her wand and turned him back into a human.  
  
"There, now perhaps you can explain what you were doing running around the school naked with your clothes," she held up his clothes for emphasis, "In your mouth."  
  
Kyou gratefully accepted his clothes and pulled them on. He didn't know how to explain his behavior. He couldn't just say that he had been in cat form and turned into a human without warning.  
  
"And while your at it, you can tell me why you didn't attend a single class today," Professor McGonagall added.  
  
Kyou rubbed his arm and looked at the wall. "What happened?" he asked. "How'd I turn into a cat, and how did you - "  
  
"Turn you back into a human boy?" McGonagall supplied.  
  
Kyou nodded.   
  
"I transfigured you. If you had attended classes, you would have realized that it's possible for you to change one thing into another. Human transfiguration is extremely complex; that's why I had to wait until you held still before I used the counter spell - " her explanation continued along with a lecture.  
  
Hatori ran his hands through his hair. "It should be okay," he said to Akito. "She turned him into a cat, he didn't transform."  
  
"Still, I want him punished. He shouldn't have been racing around without his clothes on," Akito responded. He reached out and caught Haru by his sleeve as the ox was creeping away.  
  
"What are you doing with Haru?" Hatori asked. They had started to make their way away from Kyou and McGonagall.  
  
"I still need to talk to him," Akito snapped.  
  
Hatori shook his head and turned down the nearest branch in the hallway. "Good night," he called over his shoulder.  
  
After he was out of sight, Akito grinned widely. "I need your help," he said.   
  
"With what?" Haru asked.  
  
"Not you, BLACK!" Akito snapped.  
  
"Huh?" Haru managed before Akito backhanded him in hopes of calling out Black Haru.  
  
************************  
  
Momiji was exploring the castle. Tohru hadn't come with him at the end of potions, and he hadn't been able to really catch her attention since then. In fact, she seemed preoccupied with everyone around her.  
  
Stomach rumbling, he noticed a large picture of a fruit basket. Remembering what Tohru had told Yuki about a game she had played as a child, he walked up to it and ran his fingers over a tasty looking pear.  
  
The picture of the fruit basket swung open, revealing a wide passage. The delicious aroma of many cooking foods met his small nose.   
  
"Ah," he said in amazement. He hurried through the door, a hungry expression on his face.  
  
A sea of creatures turned to look at him with bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. They all had large, bat like ears and were wearing pillow cases and other non clothes items.  
  
"Hello!" Momiji exclaimed brightly. He pranced in closer and they gathered around him.  
  
"Who are you?" a girl with lots of bushy brown hair asked. She was holding a large stack of papers and badges.  
  
"Momiji Souma!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm in Hugglepuff - "  
  
"You mean, 'Hufflepuff,' right?" the girl said. "There's no house called Hugglepuff."  
  
Momiji shook his head. "Nope! I call everyone one there Hugglepuffs because they all like hugging so much!" He paused to look at the creatures again. "So. . . . who are you?" he asked.   
  
"I'm Hermione Granger, the president of S.P.E.W," the girl said. She offered her hand and dropped a large pile of badges by accident.  
  
Momiji bent down to help her pick them up. "What's spew?" he asked.   
  
Hermione stacked a pile of the badges into a box. "Not spew, S.P.E.W. it stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.  
  
"What's a house elf?" Momiji asked.  
  
Hermione looked shocked. "They're poor innocent creatures who are worked like slaves. They don't get paid, or holidays, or sick leave or anything. They're expected to make the fires and beds and - "  
  
"And do it for FREE!" one of the house elves exclaimed. He was dressed differently then the others. He had a small shirt and two brightly colored socks of different colors.   
  
"You mean they make you into slaves!" Momiji demanded.  
  
Hermione looked surprised. "You mean you can see the problem?" she inquired. Momiji nodded. "Then would you be interested in joining S.P.E.W?" she asked.  
  
"Sure!" Momiji exclaimed. He wasn't doing anything else at the time. He signed his name to the paper and became an offical member of Spew.   
  
Dobby, the house elf who had talked to him, bounced around him. As Momiji finished signing his name, the elf pointed out that Momiji was wearing two of the same color socks.  
  
************************  
  
Yuki almost made it to his room. Then he ran into a group of Gryffindor boys. They were talking about someone who sounded an awful lot like Kisa. They were all laughing about some joke that they had played on her.  
  
He caught one of the boys attention. "Excuse me, are you talking about Kisa Souma?" he asked softly.  
  
The boy, who had black hair and a cruel expression on his face, smiled. "That might be the little wenches name," he said. "Why do you ask?" He had been the boy who had placed the spell on Kisa.  
  
Hey Vol- I mean Tom," one of the other boys said, falling short on calling the boy Voldermort, which was who he was.   
  
"What?" Voldermort asked his flunky. He had come up with the perfect plan to defeat Harry Potter. Well actually, one of his spells had backfired and turned him into a child again. Because of all the magick he had performed on himself, he didn't look like he had used to. Making the most of the situation, he enrolled in Hogwarts under the name Tom Sharp.  
  
Before his flunky could answer, Yuki buried his fist in Voldermort's face. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave Kisa alone," he warned.  
  
He walked down the hall and out of sight before any of them could respond.  
  
************************  
  
Hana and Kagura finally found the perfect place to brew their love potion. In an out of order girl's bathroom. Apparently a ghost haunted the toilets. Neither of them was worried too much about it.  
  
"We'll need some Strawberry Nymph blossoms," Hana said, glancing over the potion that they had chosen. "I think Professor Snape has some . . . . . "  
  
"Yeah, but how will we get 'em?" Kagura asked.  
  
"Well, either you distract him and I'll steal them or I'll distract him and you steal them," Hana said.  
  
Several minutes later, they were standing outside Snape's office. Kagura took a deep breath and waited as Hana entered.  
  
"Professor Snape. . . . . did you know that the human body is composed of 70% water . . . . . . "   
  
Kagura tuned out what she was saying and slipped into Snape's office, helping herself to his private supply of potion ingredients. Leaving the room, she gave Hana a thumbs up sign.  
  
Hana abruptly stopped talking. "One more thing. If you do anything to hurt Tohru, you will be 'beep' with electric waves." She turned and practically floated out the door.  
  
Snape blinked in irritation. She had been talking to him while his mind was occupied. He had barely heard a thing she had said, but her parting words had been a threat without a doubt.  
  
He made a note to catch her doing something illegal before the end of the year. Then he went back to the more pressing concern of the vivid Dark Mark on his forearm.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru was in the Hufflepuff common room. She had tons of homework to do still, but she couldn't focus. It was becoming more and more clear that she didn't know a thing about her stuff.   
  
In fact, the homework didn't make any sense at all. Worried that she would get a failing grade, she headed down to the dungeons to talk to Snape about a potions problem that she didn't understand.  
  
"What are you doing there?!" Filch snapped.   
  
"Hmmmm?" Oh, I was having trouble with my homework and thought that I might ask Professor Snape if he could give me a hand," Tohru said brightly.  
  
She noticed that Filch had a mop in his hands and was trying to scrub a thick layer of dirt off a flight of steps. He wasn't having much luck by the looks of things.  
  
"Here," she offered. "You need some more soap in your water." She glanced at the water, which was murky brown, and laughed. "Actually, you need fresh water completely."  
  
  
  
She emptied the water in a near by bathroom, that had a ton of potion ingredients strewn across the floor. Then she stepped back into the hall, hauling a bucket of fresh water with her.  
  
She added a half a cup of soap to the water and swished it around with the mop. "See," she said brightly and started to scrub the steps.  
  
Filch was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He was used to students avoiding him, not super mopping his floors.   
  
He reached for the mop, but by that time Tohru was halfway down the stairs. "Then you have to rinse. . . . . " she continued to explain cleaning procedures to Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts.  
  
************************  
  
Professor Dumbledore looked up as Professor Sprout escorted the new students into the room. After careful consideration, he had decided to allow them to attend classes in spite of having missed the first day.  
  
"You understand that we'll have a private Sorting Ceremony, right?" he asked.  
  
Rin Souma nodded, her long black hair mingling with her black cloak. "Of course," she said simply.   
  
"It would have been much easier if you had sent your owls in by the time limit - " Professor Sprout began to say.  
  
"Gomen nasai! I'm SOOORRRRRYYYYYYY!! I should be killed! How could I not realize that they had to be sent in by - "  
  
"It's quite all right," Dumbledore said, trying to soothe the distraught Ritsu. "We'll just get - "  
  
But Ritsu continued to apologize excessively until Hiro poked him sharply in the side. Then he shut up completely.  
  
Dumbledore pulled the Sorting Hat off of a shelf and handed it to Rin. "Just put it on your head and it'll tell you where you belong."  
  
"What about my song?" the hat asked.  
  
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled as the hat launched itself into a long song about the four houses at Hogwarts.  
  
Rin tapped her foot impatiently. Ritsu held his breath, not wanting to disrupt the hat. Hiro scowled, a suprior look on his face. Kunero's jaw just hung down in amazement. And Kana looked amazed, but only mildly.  
  
All five of them had been turned back into children, but unlike the others, Akito hadn't made them sign up at Hogwarts. In fact, he hadn't gotten their owls at all - mostly because the owls had gotten lost.  
  
They had decided to attend classes on their own after they attempted in vain to find Akito. If he was against their decision, he could try and find them. He was, as far as they knew, in Japan, not England.  
  
Rin smiled slightly. Being at Hogwarts would give her a helpful insight into curses. With any luck, by the start of her second year, she would be able to break the family curse. Then she wouldn't turn into a horse anymore.  
  
She placed the hat on her head. "Slytherian," it said after a moment. She handed it back to Dumbledore and stood up.   
  
"Ritsu, if you would come next," Dumbledore said.  
  
Ritsu sat down and put the hat on his head. "Hmmmmmm, very difficult to place," the hat muttered.  
  
Immediately Ritsu started to panic. "I'm so sorry. I - " before he could say anymore, the hat spoke.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
Hiro poked Ritsu to shut him up again and plopped the hat on his own head. "SLYTHERIAN!" the hat bellowed after another moment. The sheep handed the hat to Kunero and walked towards his sister, Rin.  
  
Unlike everyone else, he had only lost a little bit of time. Instead of being eleven and ten months, he was just eleven now. It was no big loss.  
  
Kunero put the hat on and waited for several moments before the hat responded. "GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed.  
  
Kana was the last of the new members to get the hat. After a couple of minutes, it declared her a Ravenclaw.  
  
"That's surprising," Dumbledore noted. "That makes you our second Ravenclaw this year."  
  
"Oh really? Who's the other one?" she asked.  
  
"Hatori Souma," Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling. "But never mind that right now, welcome to Hogwarts."  
  
************************  
  
Kisa was in the library when Harry found her. It was late and she had fallen asleep.  
  
She woke to the feeling of being shaken lightly. "Kisa, wake up. You'll get in trouble if you're caught out of bed," he said.  
  
She blinked groggily at him. "Wha-" she started to mutter before she remembered being attacked in History of Magick.   
  
He offered her his hand and she shied away from him. "It's okay," Harry said. "We'll get back before anyone notices we're missing. I heard about what happen from you're cousin, Yuki - "  
  
Kisa pulled away from him even more. Harry didn't seem to notice. He held his hand out, silently waiting for her to take it.  
  
Kisa didn't know what to think. He was staring at her steadily with his vibrant green eyes looking sincere behind his glasses. He didn't seem distrust worthy at all. And yet she had been starting to relax, thinking everyone was okay when she had been picked on again.  
  
"It's okay," Harry said again. "Just forget about them gits. They aren't worth worrying about. You should focus more on getting through your studies, and - "  
  
A light filled the entrance to the library.   
  
"Quick hurry," Harry whispered. He pulled her out of the alcove she was hiding in and under a large cloak with him.   
  
They held still while Filch and Tohru put the cleaning equipment away.  
  
"Sissy. .. ." Kisa murmured, but neither of them heard her.  
  
"Go to bed," Filch ordered Tohru.  
  
"Huh? Oh, I can't. I still have to finish my homework. I guess this took longer then I expected. . . . . "  
  
Filch waved her towards the exit. "Go on and get out of here," he said. He closed the broom cupboard and locked it with a heavy key.  
  
"Uhmmmm. . . . " Tohru stopped.   
  
"What?" Filch demanded. She was really strange. It was throwing him off.  
  
"I was wondering. . . . if you had any extra work. . . . well, I would be willing to help after school . . . . ." she said.  
  
Under the cloak Harry nearly choked. Standing in the open, Filch choked.  
  
Several moments later, Tohru left with a promise that she would help the bewildered Filch, who looked as if he was going to pass out from confusion.  
  
After they were both gone, Harry led Kisa upstairs to the Gryffindor tower. Then she slipped into her own room and went to bed.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
Okay, Yuki is in Slytherian for a reason. Actually a couple of reasons.   
  
#1) He's got a secretive nature. He's not as warm hearted as you would think.  
  
#2) (and more importantly) It's the opposite of Gryffindor, where his rival, Kyou is.  
  
Those are my reasons. Sorry if they seem strange.   
  
Then, I decided to add Rin, Ritsu, Kana, Kunero, and Hiro to keep things interesting.   
  
Oh, and I decided that Voldermort will be at school. I'm not sure what happened, but he's going to be causing trouble on and off.  
  
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review.  
  
Kissa-chan 


	11. The chaos of invisiblity

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, here's the new students.  
  
Rin, the horse of the zodiac, has long black hair and dark eyes. (I think that they're black) She has a mysterious demeanor about her and might be trying to break the curse. While I don't know for certain if she is Hiro's older sister, I'm making it like that for 'A year at Hogwarts.'   
  
Kunero, the rooster of the zodiac, is a little harder for me to describe. I've never seen a color picture of him before (if anyone knows where there is one, let me know \_/) However, if he is the rooster, then he probably has red gold hair. I do know that it is short. He doesn't get out much and Uotani is getting a crush on him.  
  
Kana isn't a member of the zodiac. She's Hatori's old girlfriend from both the anime and the manga. She appears briefly in episode eight.   
  
Anyway, I hope that answers your questions. Keep in mind that Kunero and Rin may be a wee bit OOC. Now - on with the story!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kisa was sitting beside Rin in Potions. The two of them were supposed to be brewing a Invisibility Potion.   
  
Kisa wasn't sure how it was turning out since Rin was doing most of the brewing. She was cutting up the ingredients into small pieces.  
  
The door opened and Tom and his friends, who were Death Eaters turned back into children, stepped into the room.  
  
Professor Snape's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're late," he said. "Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for each one of you."  
  
"Whatever," Malfoy Sr. said flippantly. He gave Kisa's arm a quick shove, causing her to cut her pinkie with the sharp knife.  
  
Rin leaned back in her chair and glanced at Malfoy carefully. "Don't do that again," she said coldly. She turned he black eyes to Kisa and looked over the cut.  
  
"It's only small," she told Kisa, who nodded in agreement.  
  
"What's 'only small?'" Snape demanded. He stalked over to their cauldron in a swirl of black, his cloak billowing around him.  
  
Rin didn't seem impressed by him at all. She turned back to the potion that she was brewing, ignoring him completely.  
  
Kisa was staring up at Snape with a mixture of fear and nervousness. Her eyes were wide and she was having trouble answering his question. "I - I -I. . ." she stammered softly.  
  
"Well?" Snape prompted, raising one black eyebrow quizzically.  
  
Kisa still couldn't answer.   
  
Rin, who was getting sick of waiting for the next ingredient, reached over and picked up Kisa's still bleeding pinkie and showed it to Snape. "Now go hover over someone else. We have a potion to finish and you're distracting her."  
  
"Is that so?" Snape asked. He leaned closer to Kisa's work station, but before anything happened there was an explosion in Shigure's and Aya's cauldron.  
  
"I added too much, sorry," Shigure said to Aya. The silver haired snake was covered in splotchy invisibility potion.   
  
"That's okay," Aya responded in a sing-song voice. He reached for the ends of his hair and started to flip them lightly.  
  
"I'm sure that - " his loud booming voice suddenly stalled completely. "My hair! It's gone!" he hollered. "My beautiful hair, it's abandoned me!"   
  
His hair had gotten coated with the Invisibility Potion.  
  
Snape went over to him. "Sit down, Souma," he ordered sharply.  
  
"This is awful," Aya wailed. He put his hand to his forehead in mock horror. "I'll never be anything without my precious locks of gorgeous silver hair!" He spun and faced Yuki, who was trying his hardest to become invisible.  
  
"Do you like me better now that my beauty has been ruined? I could tolerate this disfigurement if it made it easier for you to love me and let us finally close the horrendous Gap between the two of us!"  
  
"Sit down!" Snape raged.  
  
Yuki looked up at his brother, noting that Aya didn't seem to be bothered that half of his body had disappeared along with his hair.   
  
In fact, everyone in the dungeon classroom was looking at him with mixed expressions on their faces. Everyone except Rin, that was. She was still determinedly brewing her own potion.  
  
"Oh, don't look at me! I'm an ugly man without my hair - "  
  
"And body?" Uotani asked by accident.  
  
"AGhhhhhhhhh! My beautiful body! It's vanishing. Help me, brother!" He started to run towards Yuki, but tripped and went spilling into Rin's cauldron.  
  
The whole thing tipped over, spilling it's milky white mixture all over Kisa and himself.  
  
"Settle down!" Snape shouted. He pulled his wand and aimed it at Aya, but the snake had completely vanished from sight.   
  
"Oh woe is me! Why can't I have a normal body? Why must my extreme beauty be wasted!" he wailed.  
  
"Settle down, maybe we can bring you're body back," Shigure suggested.  
  
"Shut up, you're making my head hurt!" Akito finally snapped. He was working with Hana who was still focusing on completing the brewing before it got knocked over.  
  
"I can't! I'm not even a man anymore, see!" he shouted. "I've taken my pants off and none of you can see my marvelous body in full! This is so tragic!"  
  
"PUT YOUR PANTS BACK ON!" Kyou and Yuki raged at the same time. Both of them had been working together and attempting to out do each other.  
  
"I can't!" Aya shouted. "I threw them and now I don't know where they are. And I don't want them on anyway! Why should my magnificent beauty be concealed any longer?"  
  
"Hey!" Hiro shouted, catching everyone's attention. "Where's Kisa!" he had been watching the affairs with boredom evident in his body language. Then he had glanced over to where Kisa had been sitting and realized that she was gone.  
  
Snape looked over and determined the same thing. "Souma. . . Kisa?!" he called out in an agitated voice.   
  
There was no response.  
  
"What did you do to Kisa!" Hiro demanded in what he hoped was the direction that Aya was in.  
  
The confident snake was wailing about his missing beauty still, and didn't pay any attention to the sheep.  
  
"Hey! I asked you a question!" Hiro shouted. He drew his wand out and shouted "'Petrificus Totalus!" But his spell missed Aya by inches and his Akito instead.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Akito snapped as his body started to lock up. He had sprang to his feet, but quickly lost his balance and knocked over Hana and his potion.  
  
Most of the electric girl vanished and his upper body was gone from sight. Hana drew her invisible legs up onto her chair and raised one pale white hand. "Professor Snape," she inquired, her voice low and dark as usual.  
  
Snape's black eyes locked onto her. "What!" he exclaimed. His classroom order was disintegrating rapidly.  
  
"My potion worked. I want to know if I'm going to get credit for doing it correctly even though it got spilled when Akito-san fell over," she said.  
  
"Where's Kisa!" Hiro shouted again. He was sending sparks of colored sparks in the direction that Aya's wails were coming from.  
  
Snape whirled to stop him just as one of the sparks caught Kyou's sleeve on fire. The neko started to paw at it furiously and ended up knocking his cauldron over and coating himself and Yuki partially in the invisibility potion.  
  
'Baka neko!" Yuki snapped, getting to his feet angrily.  
  
Kyou's temper snapped. "Dammit! Stop acting so smug!" he shouted. He launched himself towards his rival, his legs coated in invisibility potion.  
  
Yuki couldn't see his opponents moves, so instead of waiting like he usually did, he launched himself foreword and caught Kyou in the jaw just as the neko's kick connected with his stomach.  
  
Both of them staggered back, and then launched themselves into a fight with fury.   
  
"Stop it!" Snape shouted.  
  
"Of course, no one's going to listen to you," Rin commented.  
  
He whirled, pointing his wand at her just as his robes were set on fire by Hiro's wand.  
  
"Hold still you damm hebi!" he shouted. "And tell me where Kisa is right NOW! Because if you don't tell me - "  
  
A loud POOF cut him off.  
  
"What was that!" Snape exclaimed.  
  
"I'll put you out!" Kunero shouted, completely missing the familiar sound of a zodiac member transforming. He gabbed his cauldron and splashed it's contents towards Snape, who was completely covered in the milky liquid.  
  
BAM! Kyou's invisible foot connected with Snape's invisible jaw.  
  
Yuki smirked. "I'm right here," he taunted. "Can't you hit me?" He didn't see Snape either and ended up drilling a punch into the older man's jaw.  
  
"Ooops," Kunero muttered. He started inching away from where he had been sitting, but Uotani pulled him down into his chair.   
  
"Hey, if you move around too much you might transform," she said lightly. She had found out about the curse on him.  
  
"There," Kagura announced. "It's finished!" She held up her completed Invisibility Potion. She had it in a pretty vial. "One drop of this and a person will vanish completely."  
  
In timing with her words, the vial went flying from her hands as a spark from Hiro hit the back of her hand.  
  
The vial shattered on the floor and droplets of the potion flew everywhere.  
  
There were several more explosions of smoke and noise. "Dammit! Kagura!" Kyou shouted as Yuki vanished from sight completely. "Why are you always screwing things up for me! I was winning!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Kyou. I don't mean to do things like that to you," she said with tears in her eyes. "ALL THE SAME! WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO ME! WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME!"  
  
She launched herself foreword and started to beat on Kyou senselessly.  
  
"My hair! My hair!" Aya was shouting.   
  
"Calm down," Shigure kept saying.   
  
All in all, chaos ruled the classroom.  
  
************************  
  
Haru sighed. He was completely lost. It was the second class of the day, and he couldn't find it at all.   
  
He turned down another corridor. He had been randomly turning in hopes of running into someone helpful. Professor Snape was probably really mad with him by now. Double Potions was almost over.  
  
"Hey Haru!" Momiji exclaimed. He was skipping down the hall with Ritsu by his side.   
  
The monkey was holding his arm and wailing about how sorry he was to anyone who would listen.  
  
"What happened?" Haru asked lightly.  
  
Momiji grinned. "He got attacked after accidentally insulting a plant in Herbology."  
  
Haru looked closer. Sure enough, the monkey had large green welts all over his body.  
  
"What kind of plant?" he asked curiously.  
  
"No clue. I'm taking him to Madam Pomfrey right now. Are you lost?" Momiji asked cheerfully.  
  
Haru nodded his head.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! I MADE YOU FORGET WHERE YOU CLASS ROOM WAS WITH ALL MY YELLING, DIDN'T I?" Ritsu screamed.  
  
Haru and Momiji both ignored him. "What class are you heading for?" Momiji asked.  
  
"Double Potions," Haru answered.  
  
Momiji made a face. "That class is always so boring. All Professor Snape does is whirl around and try and intimidate us, ne?"  
  
"I guess it's okay," Haru said stoically. "Is there a better professor?"  
  
Momiji smiled. "I like Charms. That's a fun class, ne?"  
  
Haru shrugged. "Can you tell me how to get to Potions?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah!" Momiji answered. "It's right through that door." He pointed to the door to the potions class.  
  
"Thanks," Haru said gratefully. He reached for the door and opened it while Momiji and Ritsu continued towards the medical ward.  
  
Haru blinked as he starred into the empty classroom. It was void of students and teachers with the exception of Rin, who was leaning against a wall look bored.  
  
His heart skipped a beat. So far he had managed to avoid running into her. "Rin?" he questioned softly.  
  
She didn't look over at him, although he couldn't blame her. There was a lot of screaming going on in the room in spite of it being empty.   
  
Haru stupidly assumed that the noise was coming from an nearby classroom. "RIN!" he said in a louder voice.  
  
She glanced over at him and shook her head before turning back to staring at her fingernails.  
  
"Haru. . . . can you take me out of here?" Kisa's small voice drifted towards him.  
  
Haru moved foreword and nearly stepped on her. She was in tiger form thanks to a kick from Yuki that sent Snape crashing into her.   
  
That had been after everyone was invisible.  
  
She pulled away from Haru and quickly raced down the hall, her padded feet making no noise on the floor.  
  
"Kisa?" Haru questioned.  
  
"Do you know where she is?" Hiro's voice demanded. "Aya made her disappear."  
  
"Nani!" Haru exclaimed. "Aya, what did you do to Kisa!"  
  
"Oh woe is me!" Aya continued to shout. He didn't even hear Haru's question.  
  
The ox suddenly snapped his fingers. "I know what's wrong. We were making Invisibility Potions today and some of it spilled, right?"  
  
"Amazing, you figured it out," Rin said coldly from beside him. "Move aside now. I'm not staying in this circus any longer. I have other classes to attend today."  
  
She pushed past him and headed down the hall without another word.  
  
Haru watched her go. "I . . . . don't understand. . . . . " he muttered softly.  
  
************************  
  
Hatori found himself staring at Kana. She was sitting in front of him and to his left. Her short brown hair was tied back into a stubby ponytail and she was laughing at something one of her fellow students had told her.  
  
The door opened and down a flight of stairs marched a tall pale faced man wearing a high collared cape with a silky red lining. "Good morning class," he said in a voice that felt like spiders webs slipping along skin.  
  
Kana shivered slightly as he came to a stop by her desk. "As many of you already know, I'm Professor Weiss, your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. However, Miss Souma here has decided to grace my classroom a day late, and I won't forget that."  
  
Hatori almost stood up. It was obvious that Professor Weiss was freaking Kana out. He managed to restrain himself with the thought that their teacher wouldn't actually do anything to hurt her.  
  
"You have detention," Weiss told Kana. "You'll meet me back in this classroom tonight, do you understand?"  
  
"Hai," Kana said swiftly, nodding her head to show that she understood.  
  
"Good, now let's get on with the lesson," Weiss said. He pulled a large blanket off of a steel cage. Inside was a red tree with several mouth dripping with venom. "This is a Death Tree," he announced. "We are going to discuss how it lures people into it's grasp, and what happens if they don't get out of the way."  
  
************************  
  
Tohru finished Herbology and then hurried off to find out if Ritsu was okay. Heading my Potions, she heard the familiar battle cry of Kyou.  
  
'Oh no!' she thought. 'He must be attacking Souma-kun!' Without hesitation, she pushed the door open.   
  
"Stop fighting!" she exclaimed.  
  
The room was empty. "Na-na-nani!" she exclaimed on the verge of panic.  
  
"We're all still here," Hana's voice drifted from the room.  
  
"Yeah, we're just invisible," Uotani's voice added.  
  
Tohru promptly passed out from shock.  
  
"Tohru!" several people shouted. Yuki reached her first and attempted to pick her up. POOF! He turned into an invisible rat in a cloud of smoke.  
  
"Kusu Nemuzi!" Kyou muttered and did the same exact thing. The Hiro tripped over him and landed on her, turning himself into a sheep.  
  
"Come Aya!"  
  
"To the medical wing!" Aya sang.   
  
Shigure had finally convinced him that he could be fixed if they went and seen a doctor.  
  
Of course, both of them tripped over Kyou and landed on Tohru, turning them into animals.  
  
Uotani moved foreword to get Tohru out of the hall and ended up crashing into Kunero. There was another Poof, and then everyone in the zodiac who was in potions quickly departed to out wait their transformations.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
There, that felt better. I've been getting too much away from the humorous side to this story. Having complete chaos in Potions was fun. I hope I wasn't the only one laughing though. . . . .   
  
Anyway, I was spelling Slytherin wrong, so thanks for the correction. And if anyone would be willing to beta read for me, I'd appreciate it a lot. Just let me know if you're interested.   
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	12. Reciving detention

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Detention. The word rang ominously in Kyou's head. Even though he had been one of the students that had hit Professor Snape, he felt the punishment was unmerited. He hadn't asked Snape to become invisible and dive in front of his attack.   
  
  
  
In fact, he was certain that the entire incident was Snape's own fault, and therefore no one desserved detention. Except maybe Yuki. As that thought crossed through his mind, Kyou got a wolfish grin on his face.  
  
Finally, his rival was in trouble. He couldn't be the perfect boy at school if he was holed up in detention. "Hey, Yuki!" he couldn't refrain from teasing. "How's it feel to be recognized for the damn rat that you are?"  
  
Yuki turned his brilliant violet eyes on the orange haired boy. "Baka," he stated coldly. He turned away and back to the mostly invisible Snape. "You were saying," he prompted the angry teacher to continue.  
  
Kyou watched as Snape's eyes narrowed into deadly slits. He smirked, noting that the Potions Master was watching Yuki through his narrow, black eyes.   
  
"What does that mean?" Professor Snape hissed tightly. He was glowering at Yuki, but without warning, he rounded on Kyou. "Speak up," he commanded.  
  
"Who? Me!" Kyou exclaimed. "Why don't you ask him? He's the one who said it, not me." Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say.  
  
Snape's eyes narrowed even furthure, if that was even possible. "Mr. Souma take ten points from your house for your cheek," he said coldly.  
  
"That's crazy," Kyou objected. "You were asking him a question, I was just - "  
  
"Shutting up," Akito rasped.   
  
Kyou fell silent immeadiatly, as did ever other Souma in the room. Akito was paler then usual. His black hair was hanging limply around his face, and on his left cheek was a blossoming black bruise.  
  
Akito's eyes scanned the assmebled Soumas and came to a rest on Kunero. "Kunero," he murmured softly.  
  
"Ha -Hai!" Kunero stepped foreword hesitantly. He eyed Akito carefully, and kept himself as unthreatening as possible.  
  
"I'm not feeling well. Go fetch me my doctor," Akito ordered, his voice a bare mumble.  
  
"Of course," Kunero replied. Then, on impulse, he bowed to the head of the family and backed out of the room.  
  
Snape rounded on Akito. "Mr. Souma, what do you think that you're doing?" he hissed. "I'll be giving the orders around here, this is my classroom."  
  
Akito's grey eyes narrowed. "Professor Snape," he said in a tight voice. "Maybe you're too stupid to realize somethings, so I'll make this perfectly clear. I'm not taking orders from anyone. Not Dumbledore, and certaintly not you. I'll do what I please, when I please and you will not try and stop me!"   
  
The tempeture in the room chilled at his words. "You seem to be under the impression that you're someone important," Snape hissed.   
  
"More important then you are now, have been in the past, or will be in the future," Akito answered immeadiatly. "Unlike you, I have . . . . . . control over those that are obey me." He smiled. "For instance, if I had been in command of this class, I would not have gotten struck by a student. In fact, on my mere word, Aya would have willingly cut off all of his hair."  
  
"Would not have," Aya muttered quietly.  
  
Snape didn't give any indication of hearing the snake's comments. "But you don't lead this class, and I won't stand for insubordination of any kind - "  
  
"You won't be leading this class for very long if you make me angry," Akito declared, cutting him off in the middle of his sentence. "You're not even fit to be - "  
  
It was too much. Snape whipped out his wand, giving it a sharp little flick. "Silenco!" he exclaimed, and Akito's voice died away. "You, Akito Souma, are a student in my class. You will listen when I speak, and if you're not spoken to, then you will be silent. If you think that you'll start talking without permission, I'll make sure that you can't speak. Do you understand?" He flicked his wand again, restoring Akito's voice.  
  
"DIE YOU DAMN BASTARD!" Akito raged, his pale face livid with anger.  
  
************************  
  
Hatori paused outside the door to the Ravenclaw tower. He was feeling strange again. A light wind seemed to be blowing across his face although there was no sign of any wind inside. His stomach felt as if it were bulging with food even though he hadn't eaten since the early morning, and the taste of fresh blood was warm on his lips.  
  
He blinked and the sensation was gone. He released his wand, which he had been clutching tightly. "It was nothing," he said outloud to reassure himself.  
  
"What was?" Kana asked lightly from behind him. She was standing with a couple of Ravenclaw girls from their previous class. They all looked bright and cheerful.  
  
"Nothing," Hatori muttered. Seeing Kana in the midst of the girls seemed so natural. Even though he had never known her in school, he had the destinct impression that she had been popular in school. In fact, she looked like she was already pretty popular at Hogwarts.  
  
"Oh . . . . okay," she said. She sounded a trifle dissapointed, but rebounded quickly. "Well, see you later then," she said brightly. She turned to the stone wall in front of her and called out the appropiate password. Glancing behind her, she smiled and waved before dissapearing into the chilly looking room.  
  
"Nothins wrong," Hatori repeated softly.  
  
"I suppose if you don't count ever member of Snape's Potion class turning into their respective animals after kicking him several times wrong, that comment would be true," Kunero said in one run on sentence behind the dragon.  
  
Hatori whirled around. "What!" he exclaimed, anger being chased across his face by shock and concern. "How could you all be so careless?"   
  
Kunero shrugged. "It doesn't matter now, does it," he responded.  
  
Hatori's eyes narrowed. "Of course it matters. Akito doens't want anyone to know about the curse and if you were all transform- "  
  
"Oh, don't worry. No one saw us transform," Kunero said dismissively. "We were practically invisible."  
  
"You were invisible?" Hatori questioned softly.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"How did you get to be - "  
  
"Invisible?" Kunero supplied. "Who knows. I wasn't really paying attention, but after class, Snape called us all back and Akito-sama sent me to find you."  
  
"If no one transformed, then why am I being summoned?" Hatori asked.  
  
"Because Akito-sama said he wasn't feeling well. Actually, he doesn't look really good either . . . . . " Kunero said.  
  
Hatori shot the rooster a tight look. "If he wasn't feeling well, you should have said so right away."  
  
************************  
  
Shigure listened to Akito death threats being directed at Snape with a curious expression on his face. Personally, he didn't think that it was a good idea to get on the bad side of a teacher, and it seemed that Snape was the worst teacher to upset.  
  
He was getting really quiet and his face was getting paler and paler as he dealt with the misbehaving Souma. His black hair was hanging greasely around his face and his eyes were cold and dark. All in all, Professor Snape looked scary.  
  
'He reminds me of my editor when I forget to give her my manuscript,' Shigure thought. He heard a slight tapping at the dungeon classrooms door and blinked. "Who is it?" he asked softly.  
  
He kept his voice down succesfully, which wasn't that hard considering the amount of noise that Akito was making.  
  
"It's me," Hatori's voice came through the door.  
  
Aya bounced over and pulled the door open. "Akito's harrasing Professor Snape," he announced. "I'm fairly certain that one of them is going to end this in violence."  
  
"You know who my money's on," Hatori said shortly.   
  
"Who?" Aya asked curiously.   
  
Hatori shook his head and turned back to the still shouting Akito. "Excuse me," he murmured to Aya. "Go sit down."   
  
"Of course!" Aya exclaimed softly. He pranced back to his chair and sat down at the same time that Kunero did.  
  
"Professor Snape," Hatori interjected into the conversation as soon as Akito paused for air.  
  
"I forbid it!" Akito shouted, spit flying from his mouth.  
  
"You forbid what?" both Snape and Hatori asked at the same time. They had turned to look at him carefully.  
  
"Listen up," Akito said, ignoring them, his gaze sweeping across the room. "If I catch any Soumas calling this floating duck 'Professor,' I'll beat you into oblivion myself. Do you understand?"  
  
Hatori calmly ignored Akito. He caught Snape's attention instead and started explaining to the teacher that the head of the family was rather ill at the moment and therefore, he shouldn't be held accountable for everything that he said.  
  
************************  
  
Hiro was watching the fight with mild interest. He was still feeling mildly stupid for his panick when Kisa had dissapeared. He realized now that he should have used his head more.   
  
They were working on invisiblity potions, just because she had dissapeared he had assumed something bad had happened.   
  
He bent his head to his hands, closing his eyes. Kisa hadn't seemed as happy to see him as he had though she would be. She had smiled and greeted him regularly, but it was different somehow. She had seemed to be . . . . . preoccupied.  
  
He supposed that it was probably on Tohru that the girl's thoughts resided. He sneered, looking around the room for any sign that the cheery girl was present. His eyes fell on Kisa then widened.  
  
She had tears in her eyes and they were dribbling down her face. He shifted his sight slightly to the side and spotted Voldermort and his cronies whispering to her.   
  
He stood up, intending to set things right when suddenly . . . . .   
  
"Die!" Akito shouted. He tackled Voldermort, driving him into the dungeon floor with the weight of his body. He pulled back and punched him in the face, siezing his wand even as he pulled it out.  
  
"How dare you attack my tiger with words or - "  
  
"What are you doing now?" Snape interrupted Akito's rant. "Don't you think that it's time to give it up?"  
  
"Never!" Akito screamed. He stabbed Voldermort with his wand, nearly putting out his eye before Hatori hoisted him up and slung him over his shoulder.  
  
"I'll take him to see Madam Pomfrey," Hatori told Snape calmly.   
  
"Of course, Souma," Snape responded with a slight nod of his greasy black head. He turned to the rest of the room. "Now, where were we?" he inquired.  
  
"Blood," Hiro said shortly.  
  
"Blood?" Snape repeated. "Are you ill by any chance?" he asked icily.  
  
"No, but that's where we were at," Hiro said shortly once again.  
  
"Explain yourself," Snape ordered. He looked irritated now.  
  
"It's simple really. I'm going to kill that student right there if he makes Kisa bleed anymore," Hiro shot out. He pointed his finger at Voldermort.  
  
Voldermort laughed. He had picked himself off the floor where Akito had knocked him. "I'd like to see you try," he said in a cold voice.   
  
"Enough!" Snape snapped. "Be silent, you're not to speak anymore. You all have detention which will be served - " Even though he had hurried his voice as much as he could, he was still interrupted.  
  
"Snape!" Aya shouted from the front of the class. He waved his hand wildly in front of the older man's face.  
  
"WHAT!" Snape shouted. He tried to compose himself, but failed and stood smoldering while Aya stood up to explain himself.  
  
"Well, you see. I was sitting here, listening to everything you said, when it dawned on me how terribly pale you are. Moving on from that revelation, I realized that your pale skin is made to appear pallid when seen against a black blackground," Aya began in a sing song voice. "Based on that realization, I tried to find a color that would suit you better."  
  
"Terrific, now sit down," Snape ordered.  
  
"Oh, so you're not the type of man who won't wear pink even if it would look good on him. I'm so glad. I think that I have the perfect outfit design. I'll make it for you and you can test it out right away!" Aya exclaimed.  
  
"Fine, fine, whatever," Snape hissed, a vexed look crossing his face.  
  
"All right, then I'll see you in a while!" Aya shouted. He picked up his bags and was out of the room without another word. "Don't forget, it'll be pink!" he called over his shoulder as the door closed.  
  
Snape was torn between objecting to pink clothes and objecting to Aya's departure. In the end, he didn't get a chance to object to either. The white haired man was already gone.  
  
"Detention will be served - " he started to rush through his announcement.  
  
************************  
  
"The potions complete," Kagura had whispered to Hana as they entered Snape's dungeon. The teacher was giving some sort of speech about bad behavior, but she wasn't really listening.  
  
"Will it work?" Hana asked. "We should test it first, don't you think? I don't want to give Tohru a potion that doesn't work."  
  
"Of course," Kagura muttered. "But maybe we should test it first, ne?"  
  
"Yes, but on who?" Hana asked spookily.  
  
Kagura had been silent. Akito had started to rage. She remained quiet as Hatori entered and the head of the family attack Voldermort.  
  
"We could test it on me," she said after a long moment. In the background, Hiro was threatening Vldermort.  
  
"But what if it doesn't work?" Hana inquired.  
  
"I'll be sure to look directly at Kyou. The potion should make me love him more."  
  
"How will you know if you love him more?" Hana murmured.  
  
"That's simple," Kagura responded. "If I love him so much that I can't hold it in. You see, right now, I want to run over to my beloved neko and kiss him over and over again, but I'm restraining myself. Once I drink the potion, I won't be able to help myself and my love will overflow."  
  
Across the room, Kyou sneezed three times, interrupting Snape.  
  
"I have a clear view of him from here," Kagura murmured. She tilted her head back and swallowed the potion in one gulp, her eyes closed.  
  
"Are you catching a cold in my dungeon as well?!" Snape hissed, swishing in front of Kyou's desk with a look of rage on his face. Hatori had discretly accused him of being the reason that Akito had fallen ill. Since no one had really been paying attention to what was being said, that wasn't a something that they knew.  
  
"I not getting sick," Kyou muttered darkly.  
  
Kagura heard the sound of her love's voice and sighed. "Oh Kyou," she murmured.  
  
Hana glanced over at her and then back at Kyou. Except, she noticed that she could barely see the orange haired boy from where she was sitting and it didn't look like Kagura would be able to see him at all.   
  
"Wait!" she shouted loudly, causing Snape to swirl around and make eye contact with Kagura who hadn't waited at all.  
  
"I LOVE YOU!" Kagura shouted. She was out of her chair and getting ready to kiss Snape before Rin knocked her to the ground.   
  
Hana sighed, at least she knew that the potion worked.  
  
************************  
  
"WHY'D YOU STOP ME PIN!" Kagura shouted. "YOU'RE TRYING TO KEEP MY BELOVED SNAPPIE POO FOR YOURSELF, AREN'T YOU!"  
  
Rin didn't respond. She stared dispassionately at the pig she was pinning to the floor.  
  
Snape's eyebrow twitched. "What did you call me?" he asked with a forced calm expression on his face.  
  
"Snappie poo," Kagura repeated. "You love me, right? You want to be with me, right? You want me to bare your children, right? You want to hold and kiss and f*** me, right?"  
  
For a moment, Snape was too stunned to speak. The students all took his quiet to mean that what she said was true. (NOT THE SOUMAS, ALL THE REST OF THEM) A low murmuring filled the dungeon classroom.  
  
"Is that even legal?" someone asked.  
  
"He's not denying it, it must be true," another assumed.  
  
"What a pervert," a girl said.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU CALL MY SNAPPIE POO!" Kagura exclaimed. She tackled the girl and proceeded to try and beat her into a pulp.  
  
Rin knocked her down again and glanced up at Snape. "She's not feeling herself," the horse said softly. "She's not usually like this with men other then that idiot Kyou."  
  
"You can keep Kyou, I've got my Snappie Poo," Kagura announced. She managed to get Rin off of her and kissed Snape on the mouth before anyone could blink.  
  
In the blink of an eye, Snape had his wand out and held at ready. Before he could cast any spells, Uotani nailed Kagura to the floor from behind and Rin toppled on both of them.  
  
"Just tell us what you have to and get it over with," Rin snapped. She had her hand over Kagura's mouth and it looked like she was getting bit.  
  
"Take fifty points from each of your houses for each student present, and you all have detention for the rest of the year," Snape hissed.  
  
An immeadiat objection went up through the room.   
  
"Make it a month," Hana suggested, and Snape was too weary to argue.   
  
"Come back here for detention in three hours - " his voice cut off abruptly. "On second thought, come here tomorow morning. I'll give you your detentions on the weekend," Snape murmured.   
  
The classroom started to file out. Rin and Uotani dragged a strugglin, love-proclaiming, Kagura out of the room.  
  
They were followed by the rest of the class.  
  
Snape sank down into his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he was starring at Haru's eyes.  
  
"Where is everyone?" Haru asked. "I just got here and - "  
  
"Get out!" Snape shouted. "Go away and leave me alone!"  
  
"What should I do?" Haru asked.  
  
"Go screw yourself," Snape murmured darkly.  
  
BAM! Haru's fist connected solidly with the side of Snape's face, and Black Haru continued to attack the teacher until he was unconcious. Then he marched out of the room and promptly got lost.  
  
************************  
  
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Tohru, Ritsu, and Momiji noticed that Hufflepuff was in the lead in the Inner House Competition. Apparently, Slytherian and Gryffindor were both at zero.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes'  
  
Sorry for the short part on Momiji, Kana, Tohru, and Ritsu. I really couldn't add another section to this chapter. It was getting too big.  
  
Anyway, I just finished reading the fifth Harry Potter book. It was great, wasn't it? I'm not sure that I liked Harry's personality change though. He was too arrogant. Anyway, I'm not going to say more, cuz I don't want to spoil.  
  
Coming up next chapter ( I think ) we're going to have Quidditch tryouts. I'm going to waive the first year = no brooms rule, so who do you think should play for their house teams? Review and let me know.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	13. Quidditch tryout posting

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Tohru stumbled down the stairs into the Hufflepuff common room. She was rubbing wide blue eyes with the back of her hand and her hair was sticking up in every direction. Heading by the notice board, she saw a bright yellow flyer posted over a couple of previous announcements.  
  
Curious, she walked over and read the flyer. In big, black, bold letters, it said, "Quidditch tryouts will be held after regular classes today. Anyone interested should contact the head of their house for more information."  
  
She rubbed her eyes sleepily again. That information was pertaining to her at all. She was still a first year and that meant that she couldn't even own a broom. She yawned widely and started to turn away when the bottom of the flyer caught her attention.  
  
"First years will be excepted if they show enough talent."  
  
"What'cha reading, Tohru?" Momiji asked cheerfully from behind her. He was wearing light pink robes and smiled adorably at her.  
  
"It's a notice . . . . Quidditch tryouts will be held today," Tohru said, stifling another yawn. After a moment she continued speaking. "I think that I'll tryout."  
  
Momiji looked confused. "But why?" he asked. "I didn't think that you really liked sports and all . . . . . ."  
  
"Oh, I just think that it would be a good opportunity to meet some more classmates, besides what are the chances that I'll even make the team, ne?" Tohru said lightly. She was starting to wake up now and was cheerful as usual.  
  
"Well, I don't think that I should tryout," Ritsu said from behind the two Hufflepuffs. "I probably make some mistake and mess everything up. Then they wouldn't be able to put together a good team. I'm such a screw up!"  
  
"That's not true at all," Tohru said brightly. "I'm sure that you would do great. In fact, why don't you and Momiji both tryout too?"  
  
"OH I COULD'T TAKE THE SHAME! I'M SO SORRY!" Ritsu shouted for no particular reason. He proceeded to race around the room apologizing to the ground for stomping and the fireplace for causing its flames to flicker.  
  
"Hey, Tohru!" Momiji sang out brightly.  
  
"Huh?" Tohru questioned.  
  
"I'll tryout with you!" the bunny said happily. "Let's go get breakfast now and I'll quickly check on the house elves to make sure that they're all right!"  
  
"House elves?" Tohru asked as Momiji poked Ritsu and guided him out the door.  
  
"Yep! I'm an honorary member of S.P.E.W. We're fighting for wages and decent treatment of all house elves," Momiji explained as they headed out the door.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
"I think that I'll tryout," Hatori heard Kana say to some of her friends. "I am pretty good on a broom and I'm a decent shot too. Maybe I can be a seeker, ne?"  
  
Her friends all nodded enthusiastically. "This is great! I'll bet you make the team for sure!"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. There are only a couple of positions available. Just seeker and one chaser. I thought about going for seeker, but I'm not that good. I'd feel to panicked anyway," she added thoughtfully.  
  
Hatori sighed heavily and gathered his books together. Watching Kana acting so bright and cheerful was making him feel even colder then usual. He wanted to get close to her, talk to her, just be with her, but he wouldn't dare. No, his best bet would be not to even think about trying out for Quidditch. He would be better off not making any team.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
The Slytherian Common room was in an uproar. "I can't believe that you're the new caption, Malfoy!" Pansy Parkison shrieked gleefully.  
  
"That's right, and I'm getting a completely new Quidditch team too, so everyone had better show up for tryouts, understand?" he asked, eyeing a couple of large stocky boys who looked to be rather on the slow stupid side.  
  
"Ha!" Akito exclaimed lightly. "There is absolutely no way that I'm going to play contact sports on a broom. I wouldn't even touch a broom - their only purpose is to clean and I'm no maid."  
  
"Well, that just goes to show that Soumas are afraid to tryout!" Malfoy sneered. "Can't take the thought of losing, can you? Besides, I'd have to be a fool to take a woman on my team or any men built like women for that matter," he added, looking Akito up and down skeptically.  
  
Akito's eyes flashed dangerously and then dimmed down. "I will be the only Souma not trying out for their house team," he announced coldly. "And I'll tell you this now, most of them will get on the team, because if they don't . . . . ." he let his gaze fall onto Yuki who had just stumbled down the stairs. He smiled cruelly. "They won't like it if they fail . . . . ." his voice trailed off.  
  
Yuki slipped into a chair beside Kagura. "What's he talking about?" he asked quietly.  
  
"We're getting on the Quidditch team," Kagura responded. "I think I'll try out for the position of chaser."  
  
"Why are we doing that?" Yuki demanded.  
  
"Akito's orders," Rin announced from behind him. "All the Soumas are going to tryout, and the majority of us had better get on the team because if we don't . . . " she let her voice fade ominously.  
  
"This is great!" Aya shouted gleefully. "I'm going to be a Quidditch player. I'll go tell 'gure-san and Haa-san immediately." He raced out the door before any could say anything else.  
  
"This is stupid," Hiro muttered. "I have to agree with Akito . . . brooms are for cleaning. I'll tryout, but I don't want to be put on a team. Only idiots play stupid sports."  
  
Rin smiled innocently. "What about Kisa?" she asked, her sinister voice betraying her pleasant expression.  
  
"What about her?" Hiro shot back. "Kisa won't make any team. She's too shy, and she'd be worried about mid-air collisions."  
  
"Maybe, but she's in Gryffindor and their seeker definitely hangs out with her a lot. He could pull some strings and attempt to get her on the team," Kagura interrupted both of them. "In any event, I've got to freshen up. Our first class is potions, and I want to look good for Snappie-poo! He's such a stud."  
  
Hiro and Rin both waited patiently until she had headed upstairs with Yuki and Hana. "She's right you know," Rin said after a long moment.  
  
Hiro snorted. "What? You think Snape is a stud?" he sneered at her sarcastically.  
  
"Don't be stupid, he's a greasy, old git," Rin responded immediately. "However, you might have competition on top of Tohru for Kisa's attentions . . . ."  
  
"Yeah right," Hiro responded immediately, but he didn't sound too confident.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
Aya spotted Hatori heading down a hall and bounded over to him. "Guess what!" he exclaimed.  
  
"They moved Hagrid's Hut to the other side of the Forbidden Forest," Hatori answered immediately, and then wished that he hadn't.  
  
"No, guess again!" The snake sang in a cheerful voice.  
  
"I don't want to, just tell me," Hatori snapped. Taking a deep breath, he tried to keep his temper. It wasn't like him to be this touchy.  
  
"You have to guess!" Aya objected. "It's no fun if you don't guess."  
  
Kana walked by laughing, and Hatori cast a quick glance at her. She hadn't even said 'hi'. His mood darkened and the air around him seemed to chill. Instead of insisting on just getting the information, he asked a different question. "How many guesses do I get? Counting my first one," he added.  
  
"Oh, I guess around three!" Aya said after a long moment.  
  
Alright, Akito died in his sleep and the new head of the family wants us home right away." Actually, he really hoped that wasn't the case. Things wouldn't look good if he let Akito die without medical attention to attempt preserving his life.  
  
"Close!" Aya shouted gleefully.  
  
Now Hatori was alarmed. "Akito's really sick!" he exclaimed. "Dying as we speak - "  
  
"Nope, he's ordered everyone to tryout and get on the Quidditch teams!" Aya shouted, pleased that he had managed to keep his secret until that moment. "And guess what - I'm trying out!"  
  
"How is that even remotely close to Akito dying in his sleep?" Hatori asked darkly.  
  
"What?" Aya asked. He racked him memory then smiled. "Isn't it obvious? We got orders and you guessed that we had gotten orders and HEY!" He raced after Hatori. "Haa-san, where are you going?"  
  
"Away from you," Hatori muttered under his breath.  
  
"Huh? I didn't catch that," Aya said brightly.  
  
"Come on," Hatori said loudly. "Let's get something to eat."  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
The red and gold flyer stared Kyou in the face. "This is perfect! If I get on Gryffindor and Yuki gets on Slytherian, then I can finally beat him in combat!" he shouted loudly.  
  
He seized the flyer and stuffed it in a pocket in his robes. "What have you got there?" Kunero asked chirpily.  
  
"Nothing that matters to you, you damn cock!" Kyou muttered darkly.  
  
Kunero didn't respond, but Uotani knocked Kyou off of his feet and picked up the flyer. Reading through, she tossed it back towards him. "I think I'll keep my feet firmly planted on the ground," she said out loud.  
  
"Feet planted?" Kunero asked skeptically, glancing at her feet by picking up her robes.  
  
"Pervert!" Kyou raged. He dropped his foot heavily on Kunero's head only to be punched in the mouth.  
  
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Uotani challenged. She bent down and helped Kunero to his feet. "I'll be you'd be good on the Quidditch pitch," she announced.  
  
"Oh really, and what makes you say that?" Kyou muttered darkly. "He's a fricking bird - "  
  
"And should be good at flying, yeah, that would be why," Uotani cut him off. She helped the rooster to his feet and guided him to a chair.  
  
"You look like you're fuming," Haru noted from the bottom of the boys staircase. He was dressed in his usual black leather and looked as relaxed as usual.  
  
"I am, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to beat Yuki once and for all!" the neko declared.  
  
"Really?" Haru asked. "Is there a martial arts tournament - "  
  
"No, I'm trying out for the Quidditch team and after I'm on it," his voice faded and he cracked his hands gleefully. "Then I'll have that rat beat."  
  
"Oh, I see that you heard," a voice came from the corner.  
  
They both turned to look at Shigure. "Heard what?" Kyou demanded. Haru just starred stoically.  
  
"That we all have to tryout for our house teams," the hentai inu responded.  
  
"Are they tryouts at the same time?" Haru asked softly.  
  
"No, but I don't see why that's a problem," Shigure responded airily.  
  
"I'm in two houses, remember," Haru responded. "What if I get on both teams?"  
  
"What?!" Kyou exclaimed. "I suppose that would be a problem, but nothing that couldn't be handled by making sure you don't play on either team. I'm sure Akito will understand, ne?"  
  
"Oh yeah," Haur muttered darkly. "He's just a bright and understanding guy! I'm sure that he'll just love to hear why I didn't make the team! Don't make my laugh you stupid cat!"  
  
Haru attacked Kyou without another word, a dark look flittering through his eyes as Black shown through.  
  
"Ahem!" Hermione said, catching their attention. Her perfect badge gleamed brightly on the front of her robes.  
  
"What?" they both asked.  
  
"Black Haru, you aren't permitted in the Gryffindor tower. Please turn back immediately or leave. One or the other."  
  
Kyou laughed and ushered a surprised Haru to the portrait hole. Then, pushing it open, he shoved the startled cow out into the hall.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Kisa sighed. She was eating breakfast, listening to everyone talk about Quidditch.  
  
"What the matter?" Harry asked. Ron and him were both eating breakfast with him, although Hermione was still upstairs in the common room.  
  
She shook her head, unwilling to have the information pried from her.  
  
"Come on!" Ron exclaimed. "Out with it!"  
  
Kisa shook her head, sending her amber hair flying around her face.  
  
"Okay then, are you trying out for the Gryffindor house team?" he asked.  
  
"I don't even know what Quidditch is!" Kisa blurted out finally.  
  
Both boys smiled at each other. "It's a wizarding sport, played on broomsticks," Harry said casually.  
  
Within seconds, Kisa was awestruck. "I'm going to tryout," she whispered feverently. "I want to fly!"  
  
Harry smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that," he told her. "How about Ron and I help you out after Herbology? I think we both have a free period and you gotta learn how to fly."  
  
Kisa nodded, grateful for her two friends help.  
  
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **  
  
Author's notes;  
  
All right, now you know who's going to tryout - everyone. If there are any more suggestions, let me know and I'll see how they match up with what I have planned.  
  
I stopped this chapter here because I want to have enough room for the next chapter, which should be up shortly, so keep checking to see if I got anything up, and review me if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the next chapter. I'd like to hear before I upload again, it makes it easier to get great ideas.  
  
Oh, and I'm thinking about bringing Umbridge into the mix. I didn't really like her, and therefore, having the Soumas torment her would be fun. What do you all think?  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	14. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************  
  
The day for the Gryfindor Tryouts dawns bright and sunny. The warm weather had most of the school in excellent spirits with the exception of Professor Snape, who whirled around his damp, dungeon classroom with a scowl, and Professor Binns, who was the same as always.  
  
  
  
With her Firebolt clasped tightly in both hands, Kisa slowly made her way to the quidditch pitch. A lump was trying to rise in her throat and her palms were sweaty. The sickly sweet flavor of the pumpkin juice she had forced down at breakfast was threatening to come back up.  
  
Ahead of her, Harry turned to make sure she was keeping up. "It's not really that bad," he told her when he noted the sickly tinge her skin was taking on. "It's actually worse when you play your first game."  
  
"Oh Harry, how would you even know?" Hermione exclaimed. "You were selected for the team before tryouts and I dare say, before you even knew what Quidditch was!"  
  
Harry ducked his head guiltily as Hermione dropped back to walk beside Kisa. "But he's right, you know. You shouldn't worry so much. From what I've heard from Harry and Ron, you did brilliant during practice!"  
  
"Yeah, Ron piped up. "I don't have a hope of getting the keeper position if you're trying for it!"  
  
Kisa's eyes widened. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed softly, bobbing her head in apology to Ron.  
  
To her surprise, the red haired boy smiled. "Don't be sorry. With both you and Harry playing for Gryfindor, we're sure to win the Quidditch Cup this year!"  
  
"Yeah," Harry added. "it the other team can't score and can't catch the snitch - "  
  
"Now don't get overconfident," Hermione interrupted. "There's always a chance that we won't win the Cup. Something might come up. . . . someone might get hurt . . . Harry might have to miss a game or two . . . . . "  
  
Before she could finish speaking, Ron was shaking his head. "Why are you always so negative?" he asked. "We have a really good chance of winning. Better then the Sytherians and that ugly git, Malfoy anyway."  
  
"And what about You-Know-Who?" Hermione demanded. "What if he tries something?"  
  
"You're being to paranoid. With Dumbledore here, nothing bad will happen. He'll pro - "  
  
"Oh, like he did last year?" Hermione asked acidly.  
  
"Well try anyway," Kisa announced, interrupting both of them. "There's no need to argue about it, right Harry? Right Harry?" she repeated with a worried look on her face when he failed to respond.  
  
He snapped his vibrant green eyes toward her. "Sorry, I was just . . . . . thinking," he explained. He glanced sidelong at Hermione and Ron, but neither of them noticed. Both of them were still arguing about their chances for success on the Quidditch field that year and the ability of Dumbledore to protect Harry.  
  
"What's wrong?" Kisa asked him softly.  
  
"Nothing," Harry responded quickly.   
  
Kisa could tell that he was lying, but instead of saying anything, she just smiled. "Okay, let's head down to the field and I'll do my best to get on the team, ne?"  
  
************************  
  
Kyou mounted his new broom, a Nibus Two Thousand quickly. He was really excited about the upcoming tryouts. He knew that he'd make the team. Being a beater required focus - the type of focus he had as a result of his martial arts training. It also required power, something else that he had gained from training with Kazuma.  
  
He started to lift off when Haru grabbed the back of his broom. "Hey, Kyou, let's have a fight, okay?"  
  
"Wha? Are you crazy? We've got tryouts right now. Go fight Black if you want an opponent," Kyou snapped hotly. "I've got a team to make."  
  
"I'd make a better beater then you," Haru announced stoically.  
  
"Yeah, whatever you say," Kyou responded. He raised off the ground without another look at the black and white haired boy.  
  
"Dammit! Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" Haru snapped. He shot into the air on his new broom, veering to keep on course with Kyou.  
  
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not walking, ahou!" Kyou snarled. He twisted away from Haru and his broom. "Go fly somewhere else, I'm busy."  
  
"Fine! Don't fly away from me, you lazy neko!" Haru shouted. He seemed to have missed the part about staying away from Kyou.  
  
Kyou's eyebrow twitched slightly, but he kept his goal in mind and managed to ignore Haru's remark. He had to make the team so he could beat Yuki on the Quidditch Pitch.  
  
Haru's temper knew no such bounds. With a string of venomous curses, he smacked the just released bludger straight towards the neko.  
  
Kyou ducked barely in time, feeling the bludger wizz by his left ear. "What'd ya do that for you stupid stupid cow?" he snarled.  
  
Haru's usually calm gray eyes narrowed. "Bastard," he hissed. He whipped his beater's bat at Kyou with another string of curses and challenges.  
  
Kyou grimaced and raised his right arm to block the bat. "Listen up - " he started to say before Haru's hard soled shoe connected solidly with his mouth.  
  
'He was using the bat as cover for his real attack,' Kyou thought in astonishment. 'Who the hell showed him how to think like that?' he wondered as his head snapped back.  
  
He raised his hand, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "That's your best shot?" he questioned. "Pathetic. This is how you punch someone!" Kyou's fist shot out and connected solidly with Haru's jaw.  
  
Before he had time to smirk in satisfaction, he almost fell off of his broom because the sudden motion had set him off balance. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as he righted his broom.  
  
Black Haru, who seemed to be in firm control at the moment, smirked. "That's hardly a decent punch," he said.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Kyou demanded. "Then why is your face red?"  
  
Black Haru raised his hand and touched his stinging cheek. "Why? Because it's reminding me that I have to kick your pathetic ass of your broom. That's why!" He lunged foreword and attempted to punch the neko.  
  
Kyou, watching the movement carefully decided that a dodge would be best. Just as the punch reached his face, he dropped his broom three feet down and rolled away from the angry cow.  
  
Fighting on brooms was a lot different then he had thought it would be. He needed to take into account that he wasn't restricted to side to side movement anymore. Now he could go up and down to avoid attacks as well.  
  
He heard Haru snarl and smiled. The fight was his. All he had to do was pace himself and the battle would be his. Later, he was going to have to practice kicking and punching in the air, something Haru had apparently already mastered.  
  
CRACK! Something hard connected solidly with the top of his head. "Ouch!" he shouted, cranking his head up to see what had hit him. He caught a slight blur as Haru plummeted towards the ground.  
  
'What the hell?" he wondered.  
  
He saw a blur of movement coming from his left a started to look when Haru's broom smashed into his arm with bruising force. Then his broom tilted wildly as the cow seized a handhold to stop his decent.  
  
Nimbly, Haru sprang onto the broom and whacked Kyou several times with his own broom. "Fun, isn't it?" he challenged. "What's the matter, can't take the fact that I'm beating you? Huh? Huh? Well, can you?" Black Haru shouted.  
  
"That's it!" Kyou exclaimed. He sent his broom in a barrel roll, hoping to dislodge the cow.  
  
Haru smirked and somehow maintained his balance.   
  
Kyou was prepared to dive next and plunge Haru, his broom, and his chances of getting on Gryffindor's house team into the ground when a sharp whistle caught his attention.  
  
Flying towards his with an angry look on her face was Katie Bell, captain of the Quidditch team. "Stop right now!" she shouted. From the hot look, Kyou supposed that she had been trying to stop them for awhile already.  
  
"Hatsuharu Souma, I want you out of here right now!" she shouted. "You didn't make the team now scram you stupid Slytherin!"  
  
"Huh?" Hare muttered. "What are you talking about?" He glanced at Kyou. "Why am I on Kyou's broom?" he asked. After a second, he raised his hand to his face. "And why does my face hurt?"  
  
Katie blinked in confusion.   
  
"Oh, he's always like that," Shigure announced from beside her. "He can't remember what happens when he's Black. And he changes so rapidly, it gets rather confusing."  
  
"I didn't make the team?" Haru asked. "Oh well, I guess I'll go get something to eat. I'm kinda hungry . . . . . and tired too. Must have been fighting or something . . . " he shrugged and landed his broom. "Hey, look, my broom is broken," he could be heard saying as he left the field.  
  
"All right," an obviously shaken Katie announced. "We'll proceed with the assigned drill.  
  
"Whatever you say," Shigure said. He flew over to his position and waited for the whistle.  
  
'That Haru, couldn't even control himself for a couple of minutes,' he thought, as Katie blew the whistle and the drill started. 'Now me on the other hand, I'm always on my best behavior - ' his thoughts trailed of as Ginny Weasely, who was trying out, flew past him.  
  
Humming to himself, he flew under her and craned his head up to get a better look. "My my my, I can't see a thing," he murmured.  
  
"Shigure Souma!" Katie shrieked. "You're out of position. You're supposed to be over there!"  
  
"Right you are," Shigure commented, directing his broom to the position he was supposed to be in. He flew beside Alicia Spinnet.  
  
"Hello there," he said lightly. "It's a pleasant day, wouldn't you say?"  
  
"Hey!" Kyou shouted. "Shigure, watch where you're flying."  
  
"Huh?" Shigure muttered, switching his eyes foreword. "Oh!" he exclaimed, veering away just in time to avoid hitting a pole. "My mistake," he said. He glanced over to see where Alicia had gone and spotted her flying slightly above him.  
  
"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt anything," he said to himself. He flew towards her and reached his hand up to move her skirt.  
  
"Heads up!" Uotani's voice interrupted him. "Loose bludger."  
  
Shigure swung his broom away from the bludger. "Honestly, you'd think that they'd kept them things under control . . . . . . . . "  
  
He zipped back to the scarlet robed Quidditch player and lifted her robes slightly. To his disappointment, she was wearing pants.  
  
"Just what," Uotani's voice cut into his disappointment, "Do you think you're doing with my robes?"  
  
"Meep!" Shigure had time to say before her foot smashed into his hand that was holding the broom.  
  
"Hentai!" she snapped.  
  
Katie's whistle blew. "Arisa!" she shouted. "Why'd you do that? You're supposed to - "  
  
"He's a pervert. He was looking up my robes, hoping I was wearing a skirt, no doubt," Uotani said.  
  
Katie's eyes widened.   
  
"I think he tried to look up my skirt too!" Ginny added. Several other girls also agreed that he had been flying awfully close to them all day.  
  
"The tryouts are based on skill, not . . . . perversion . . . however if he can't keep his mind on the game, then we don't want him on the team," Katie said. "Mr. Souma I think that - "  
  
"I believe I can fly!" Kunero shouted, startling everyone. He was higher up then everyone, and standing on his broom, looking down. "All I need to do is spread my wings and fly!"  
  
"What's he talking about?" Katie asked. Before anyone could venture an answer, the rooster leapt from his broom and shot towards the ground, flapping his arms cheerfully.  
  
There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Uotani maneuvered her broom to catch him. Seconds away from him, she remember the curse. If she caught him, he would turn into a rooster. The secret would be out . . . . But if she didn't, he'd hit the ground and die.  
  
"Damn," she muttered.  
  
"Got you!" she heard a loud exclamation. Glancing down, she spotted Kisa, holding the wayward rooster and flying towards the ground in a slow spiral.  
  
Neither of the young girls hands were on the handle of the broom, but it seemed like she had perfect control. When she touched down, a cheer went up amongst the players.  
  
They all headed toward the ground.   
  
Kunero was protesting. "I can fly! I can fly!"  
  
"Yeah, and you'd go splat," Kyou said. He picked Kunero up and slung him over his shoulder. "I'll take him out of here, he's not right in the head."  
  
"Right," Katie muttered, glancing at Shigure and remembering Haru. A lot of Soumas didn't seem right in the head to her. She sighed. "All right, tryouts are over!"  
  
"What?" several people asked in surprise.  
  
"The result will be posted in one week, let's hit the showers," she said. With that, the new captain of the Quidditch team walked away. And the Gryfindor tryouts ended.  
  
************************  
  
Hatori didn't like the looks of the students coming off the field. They all looked more then a little shocked and worn out.   
  
Then he spotted Kunero being carried by Kyou. "What happened?" he asked instantly.  
  
"Huh?" Kyou asked. He had a bruise forming on the side of his face. Obviously there had been a fight. "He's not hurt, he just tried jumping from his broom . . . something about being able to fly," the neko added.  
  
Hatori choked. "He what?"  
  
"Jumped off his broom," Kyou repeated. "Uotani almost caught him . . . I think she remembered at the last second. Anyway, Kisa caught him and tryouts are over."  
  
Hatori closed his eyes and counted to twenty - twice and slowly. "Trying out for the house teams is a bad idea. What if we collide with someone in mid-air?"  
  
Kyou shrugged. "Who knows. I'm leaving now, this idgit is getting rather heavy."  
  
Hatori stood, watching the rest of them leave. "Okay!" Roger Davies, the captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team called out. "The pitch is all ours, let's start the tryouts."  
  
"Come on, Hatori-san," Kana said, catching his arm and dragging him onto the field. "Good luck!" she added.  
  
"Okay," Davies said, "As you all know, I only have two positions to fill - a chaser, and the seeker. I want you all to tell me who you are and what position you're trying for, okay?"  
  
Kana smiled and walked foreword. "Kana Souma, I'm trying for the position of chaser," she said simply.  
  
"All right, Souma, I want you over there," he said.  
  
Hatori froze. He didn't want to compete with Kana, but the position of chaser was the better one for him. He realized that he would make an awful seeker because -   
  
"And that leaves you," Davies interrupted. "What's your name and what position are you trying for?"  
  
"Souma Hatori . . . .I'm trying for Seeker," he said.  
  
"All right then, Mr. Hatori - "  
  
"Souma," Hatori said with a sigh. "In Japan we say our last names first. Hatori is my given name."  
  
Davies looked slightly flustered, but recovered quickly. "Very well then, Souma, please go over there."  
  
Hatori mounted his broom and flew to the designated position. Then the Ravenclaw tryouts started.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
The Hufflepuff and Slytherin tryouts are in the next chapter. I decided to break them apart for a couple of reasons.   
  
#1, they're happening on different days, and  
  
#2 The chapter would get way too long.  
  
Anyway, sorry about the long wait. I'll try to keep up better from now on.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	15. Slytherin and Hufflepuff

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Harry Potter or Fruits Basket . . . I wish I did though . . . . .   
  
************************  
  
Hana eyed the broom with deep misgivings in her dark violet eyes. There was definitely something unnatural about taking your feet off the ground. Busses, trains, cars, heck, even airplanes were understandable. It was okay to take your feet of the ground when riding in them, but brooms?  
  
She swung her leg over the broom, deciding that it was just like riding a horse. On a horse, there was nothing encasing you, nothing protecting you. There was also a great possibility of falling off if you weren't careful.  
  
Hana was careful. She placed both of her hands on the polished wooden handle. Then she slowly pulled her legs up, wondering is she would fall without their support.  
  
Nothing happened. She was hovering three feet off of the ground. "Hmmmmmm," she murmured, evaluating her situation.  
  
"What?" Rin asked shortly, swinging one long leg over her broom and floating a couple of feet into the air.  
  
"The height - it seems to be wrong," Hana said simply. She was looking towards the ground with a strange expression on her face.  
  
"So go higher," Rin retorted, apparently already bored with the conversation. She suited her words with action and began a rapid climb toward the three hoops set near the top of the Quidditch pitch.  
  
"That would make things worse," Hana said softly, but Rin was already out of earshot and didn't hear her.  
  
  
  
Hana glanced around, looking for any sign of what she was supposed to do next. Way over her head, she spotted Aya's broom bobbing up and down around Yuki.  
  
So that's how," she murmured. She gripped the handle tighter and lowered her broom an extra two feet towards the ground. Now her long black cloak was trailing along the ground, and her knees were scrapping the tops of the grass blades.  
  
She urged the broom foreword, fighting the feeling that she was about to fall. Slowly, the broom began a snail-like crawl. Hana listened attentively to the grass swishing under her cloak. Then, when she remembered, she looked towards the sky for the bright red Quaffle. She was trying out for the position of chaser, after all.   
  
"Oy!" Malfoy's cool voice called out loudly. "Saki, get into the air, will you? We're not doing terrain flying yet!" He angled his broom towards her and shot towards the ground where Hana was flying.  
  
Two thick boys, with necks as wide as their heads, sniggered behind him. "That's a good one, hey Crabble?" the wider one asked, nudging the other, who grinned and looked stupid.  
  
"I am off of the ground," Hana stated calmly. "I'm in the air on a broom," she pointed out.  
  
Instantly, Crabble and Goyle's looks of amusement faded to confusion. "Hey, what's that mean?" one of them asked.  
  
"It means that I'm flying."  
  
"It means that she's thick," Malfoy said with a sneer. "You could hardly call what she's doing 'flying.'"  
  
"Truly?" Hana inquired, a little antennae popping out of her black hair and zeroing in on Malfoy. Neither him or his flunkies noticed, or even recognized the possible danger that came with insulting Hana.  
  
In fact, Malfoy cracked a couple more jokes about Hana. "And she had bad tastes in friends, I mean, that Honda girl is completely daft! She volunteers to clean hallways and bathrooms with Filch. Tell me that she isn't the world's stupidest mudblood," he said, finishing his triad of insults.  
  
ZAP! "It's not stupid," Hana said simply as Malfoy fell off of his broom, and fell to the green grass, smoking. "It's kindness that motivates Tohru. You would do good to remember that."  
  
Malfoy didn't respond from where he was lying of the ground. His slicked back blond hair was sizzling at the edges, and his fingernails were slightly blackened.  
  
Crabble and Goyle stood for a long moment, still sniggering. Then, apparently realizing that their boss had taken a dive, they landed beside his still smoking body.  
  
Several students, who were trying out for the team, flew down to see what was happening.  
  
"I think that he got hit by lightning," Goyle stated blankly.  
  
"What lightning? There isn't a cloud in the sky." Rin pointed out dryly. She cast her dark eyes around and spotted Hana, still perched on her broom. "Aha . . . " she murmured, deciphering what had happened.  
  
"Well, maybe it was a jinx . . . . or a curse," Crabble suggested, his brow furrowed with concentration. Thinking obviously wasn't very easy for him.  
  
Rin raised one an eyebrow skeptically, but didn't say anything. They weren't registering as intelligent beings on her scopes - not many people did.  
  
Yuki cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem, do you plan on taking him to see Madam Pomfrey?" he inquired politely.  
  
"Why?" Goyle asked stupidly.  
  
"Well, considering the fact that he's unconscious, looking dead, and smoking on the lawn, don't you think he would benefit from seeing a doctor or healer of some sort?" Yuki asked calmly.  
  
"What would a girl know?" Goyle asked blankly.  
  
"What do you know?" Crabble asked. He stepped foreword, intending to push Yuki backwards. The rat, however, was far too quick for him, and nimbly stepped aside, letting the muscle-bound fifth year lumber past him.  
  
"Does this mean that tryouts are canceled?" Goyle asked, detouring Crabble from another attack on Yuki.   
  
"I don't know," Crabble said. Neither of them made any move to help Malfoy out. Instead they kept glancing at each other with confused looks on their faces.  
  
What are you? Stupid or something?" Hiro demanded sarcastically. "I mean, if he's unconscious then how could the tryouts continue? Will you hold them?"  
  
"Well . . . . ." Goyle began hesitantly.  
  
"No, you can't. You don't have the proper authority. You're not even a member of the team. You're just trying out like everyone else here with the obvious exception of the near dead team captain," Hiro continued.  
  
"Yeah, but . . . . " Crabble attempted to say.  
  
"And you're just going to let him smolder on the ground. 'Smolder' means 'to smoke,' since you didn't know," he said as their faces scrunched up in utter confusion. "Anyway, like Rin said, there's no way that he could have been hit by lightning. You'd have to be extremely stupid to even think something like that would happen on a cloudless day.   
  
I mean, even on a rainy day with lots of clouds, the chances of getting hit be lighting are slim to none. Especially with the stadium here, which is taller and more likely to attract lightning then a solitary player close to the ground would. Besides, I'm sure that they have the stadium spelled to repel lightning. How else would the teachers let us play during lightning storms? They have to keep us safe, you know? Wait, sorry, you don't know. You're just too stupid to get it," Hiro said before pausing to catch his breath.  
  
Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly and took one menacing step foreword. "Better watch your mouth, Mudblood," he warned.  
  
Hiro wasn't impressed or intimidated. "Or what, you stupid oaf?" he challenged. "If you hit me, you'd get expelled for attacking a fellow student. And besides that, name calling is pretty pathetic. You don't even do it well - I mean, you could be more creative, you know?"  
  
"Maybe I won't get expelled for attacking a fellow student," Goyle said smugly. "Maybe you'd get expelled for - "  
  
"Not likely you retard," Hiro said flatly. "I won't get expelled. You on the other hand . . . .just try and hit me and see how fast you get kicked out of this school . . . " Hiro said, letting his voice trail off as a smirk filtered across his face.  
  
Goyle's threatening look faded to one of confusion.   
  
Then Rin laughed suddenly. "Hiro, leave them alone. They're not used to thinking. If you keep up, they might pull a muscle or something."  
  
"Obviously," Hiro said with a superior look on his face. "I could tell that just by looking at them. They're big and stupid - kinda like cows really."  
  
"Hey," Haru said stoically, but didn't go Black.  
  
Hiro ignored him and continued to rail on Crabble and Goyle. "Are you going to take him to the hospital or not? He obviously isn't going to get up on his own, and like Yuki said, he could probably use some medical attention."  
  
Crabble frowned, turning things over in his mind. He stepped foreword, beginning to look threatening.  
  
"Maybe you should stop thinking - it looks really painful. You should just take orders. It'd be much easier and less painful, not to mention the fact that it would take less time," Hiro said smugly.  
  
They both looked thoughtful, which meant that they scrunched their faces up into a painful grimace.  
  
Hiro sighed. "Pick him up and follow me," he ordered. "Sheesh, you'd think that they'd at least learn to follow orders. I mean, even dumb animals are trainable. You'd think they'd eventually get something right - even if it was by accident."  
  
"Wha?" Crabble asked as he hoisted Malfoy's prone form with Goyle's help.  
  
"Stop asking questions. You wouldn't understand the answer anyway. It'd just baffle you more then you already are," Hiro ordered. "Honestly, just follow me and keep your mouths closed so nothing falls out."  
  
"Falls out?" Goyle asked as they made their way off of the Quidditch Pitch.  
  
As they headed out of earshot, the remaining Slytherins could hear Hiro continue to insult Crabble and Goyle, who looked more confused by the second.  
  
**********************  
  
"The Slytherin Quidditch Tryouts are to be moved to next Thursday due to an regretful accident befalling Draco Malfoy, the new team captain," Dumbledore announced that evening at dinner.  
  
He had an unusually solemn expression on his face. "If anyone has any information about the cause of Mr. Malfoy's accident, I implore you to share the information with either me, or the head of your house." With those words he sat down, signaling the beginning of the meal.  
  
"What happened to him?" Uotani asked Hana quietly. "Everyone in Gryfindor is saying that he accidentally blasted himself with his wand . . . either that or karma finally caught up to him . . . . . . ."  
  
Hana set her pumpkin juice down. "He got what he deserved for his comments about Tohru," she said eerily.  
  
Uotani smiled. "So it was 'karma' then," she stated. "I guess that's fine, but do you think you'll still make the team with 'karma' having taken the captain out?"  
  
"No," Hana said flatly. She picked up her spoon and spooned another mouthful of soup into it.  
  
Uotani was silent for a long moment. "I suppose that means you're pretty upset, ne? I mean . . . . . you really wanted to make the team, right?"  
  
"Actually," Hana said softly. "I don't want to make the Slytherin team or any other team."  
  
"Why not?" Uotani asked in surprise.  
  
"Because," Hana said, putting her spoon down. "I get airsick."   
  
************************  
  
The following evening, Ernie Macillian gathered the small group of students trying out for the Hufflepuff House team. It was a rather pitiful sight. There were only seven students trying out - he had to fill six positions - and all of the students were first and second year female students.  
  
Tohru Honda, a pretty young girl with warm blue eyes, was the only one that he recognized on sight. That was mainly because of the strange rumors that had begun to circulate the school about her.   
  
It was said that the young first year spent her evenings helping Filch clean the castle. It was also said that she volunteered and was actually friends with the old caretaker and his cat!  
  
Ernie cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus on Quidditch. "Good evening - I'm glad to see that you all decided to tryout for your House Team this year."  
  
"Hello," Tohru said brightly, bowing deeply at the waist. "It's very nice to meet you, Macillian-san."  
  
"Uhhmmm, hi," Ritsu said softly.  
  
"Good morning!" Momiji exclaimed.  
  
"Isn't it evening?" a girl name Nami asked politely.  
  
"Oops," Momiji bubbled. "Sorry evening - Good evening!" He smiled disarmingly, fiddling with a pink bow at the collar of his shirt.  
  
Ernie sighed again, heavier this time. They were all such young girls. "Okay, what position is everyone trying for?" he asked. His heart sank as the words left his mouth. What if they were all trying for the same position? What if none of them wanted to be beaters . . . . . ?  
  
"Chaser," Nami said firmly.  
  
"Uhhhmmmm, I was hoping that you wouldn't mind if I tried out to be a beater," Ritsu said. "Because if it isn't, what I mean to say is, I'd be willing to - Oh that's all wrong! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't be here at, I'm just taking up all of your precious time!" Ritsu began to wail in distress.  
  
"It's fine. I was hoping that you'd try out for that position," Ernie said truthfully. "I'll need someone to be a beater, so that'll be perfect."  
  
Ritsu looked immensely relieved that he hadn't made any mistakes. "Thank-you soooo much. I was so worried hat I had said the wrong thing. I promise, it won't happen again."  
  
Ernie held up his hand, gesturing for silence. "That's good enough. The others need to talk now," he said kindly, his eyes narrowing at Momiji who had just stopped poking Ritsu.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! GOMEN NASAI!" Ritsu bellowed, slapping both of his hands to his face in horror.  
  
"I said that there wasn't a - " Ernie began to say.  
  
Ritsu didn't hear a word of it. He was in his element now, and nothing was going to stop his apology. "A disgrace to all mankind! People like me should be drowned at birth! We're worthless - I'm a worthless loser! How could I even think to tryout for such a worthy position as being a beater for Hufflepuff, when I, myself, am like the dirt under your heels? No! Lower then the dirt - "  
  
Momiji, who had begun to poke his when he started to apologize, finally found the right spot to hit. "Ooops, do you think that I poked to hard?" he asked in concern as the distraught monkey dissolved into a lifeless pile on the Quidditch field.  
  
"That's fine," Ernie quickly assured him, grateful for the silence and fearing another apology outbreak." He cleared his throat. "What's your name and what position are you trying for?"  
  
"Souma Momiji," the bunny supplied cheerfully. "I'm going to be your new Keeper!"  
  
Ernie nodded and glanced at the next girl he had trying out for his team.   
  
"I would like to be a beater," a spiky haired girl named Riku declared. She was obviously a first year. The awed expression on her face was a dead giveaway.  
  
"Me too!" a small first year named Kairi piped up. "I want to be a beater."  
  
"And I wish to be a chaser," Jessica Sky, a second year girl, added politely.  
  
"Annou . . . ." I was going to try out for chaser, but you're going to need a seeker, so I'll try out for that position," Tohru said, standing up from where she had been kneeling with Ritsu. "That is unless there is a different position that you would like me to attempt to get, that is - "  
  
"Seeker is good," Ernie said quickly.  
  
Tohru beamed at him cheerfully.  
  
"All right, everyone mount your brooms!" he exclaimed. It was a relief to be over introductions and position choosing.  
  
Jessica and Nami both got on their brooms, but everyone else just starred at him with slightly baffled looks on their faces. "Uhhhmmm. . . . how?" Kairi finally asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ernie asked suspiciously. It was slowly dawning on him that the first years hadn't even taken any flying classes yet. That meant that they didn't know how to fly. He cursed silently, realizing that Hufflepuffs already slim chances for winning the house cup had just become extinct.  
  
Several minutes later, he ended tryouts.  
  
Ritsu had managed to knock a bludger directly at Ernie's head ( while they we're still on the ground of course . . . ). The long string of apologies that followed was more then enough to make him realize that Ritsu was no good for the team.  
  
"Ritsu," he said kindly. "I don't think that Quidditch is the right game for you." He hesitated, sensing a major apology coming up. "However, ahem, they're looking for a new commentator for the matches and I think you'd prefer that position. You'd be perfect for it," he added, stretching the truth as far as he dared.  
  
"Really?" Ritsu asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, you're perfect for the position. You have all the right talent. I mean, you have to talk quickly and you don't have a problem with that," he said, coming up with a valid reason why Ritsu would be good for the position. He really didn't want to upset the young woman.  
  
"Oh, thank-you so much!!!" Ritsu wailed. "You're so kind to me and I don't even deserve - "  
  
"Yes you do!" Tohru exclaimed. She had gotten her broom into the air, but was holding on like a sloth and looking rather dizzy.  
  
Ernie froze, wishing that he would never find out exactly how she had gotten into that position.  
  
Then he was hugged. Ritsu thanked him several more times and then left to see Professor McGonagall about being a commentator.  
  
Ernie waited several seconds, then he announced his team. With a heavy heart, he started his first practice with the Hufflepuff House Team.  
  
************************  
  
Two days later, the results of all the Quidditch Tryouts were posted on the wall in the great hall.  
  
  
  
Akito dragged everyone over to everyone over to evaluate their performance. "All right, here's the deal," he began softly. "If the names of at least eleven Soumas are on a Quidditch team, then I won't be angry or do anything to any of you. However if the number falls short, those who made the teams will suffer, do I make myself clear?"  
  
Yuki's violet eyes narrowed at the obvious injustice, but Hatori answered for all of them. "We understand," he said in a monotone voice.  
  
"Good," Akito said with a faint smile. "Shigure, please read out the names for the Gryffindor tryouts."  
  
Shigure stepped foreword, putting on his reading glasses. "Ahem for the position of Seeker . . . . . . . . Harry Potter - "  
  
"Big surprise there, he's only the most famous wizard in the wizarding world with the possible exception of Voldermort - " Hiro began immediately.  
  
  
  
Akito glowered at him, silently ordering him to be silent. "Just give me the names of the Soumas who made it," he snapped to the inu.  
  
"Oh, right," Shigure responded. "For the position of Keeper, Kisa . . . . . . "  
  
"One," Akito said ominously, casting a wicked look towards the amber haired tiger.  
  
Shigure continued reading out the next name. "For the position of Beater, Kyou."  
  
"Ah, so they let the feline's on the team, did they?" Akito asked. "That's two, are there any others?"  
  
Shigure shook his head. "No, that's all of us who made the Gryffindor team - "  
  
"What about Kunero? Haru? You?" Akito demanded. "Do you mean to tell me that out of the six of you, only two made the team?"  
  
"Actually," Aya piped up. They were only five Soumas trying out for - "  
  
"Shut up!" Akito snarled. "If I say it was six, then it was six. Count them, Kunero, Shigure, Hatsuharu, Kisa, Kyou, and Uotani - "  
  
"Uo-chan's not a Souma," Tohru interrupted boldly. "She's a - "  
  
"She's an adopted member of this family until I say otherwise, the same as you and Saki are. That means you will listen and obey when I speak," Akito said calmly.  
  
Before anyone else could speak, Shigure quickly added. "And for the other beater position, Uotani . . . . . . . "  
  
"That's three," Akito said calmly. "How about Slytherin? Who made that team?"  
  
"It looks like Yuki and Rin are chasers," Shigure said, studying the list carefully. "Hiro is the Keeper . . . . . .and Kagura is a Beater."  
  
Akito blinked. "Speaking of Kagura, where is she?" He glanced around, looking for any sign of the brunette girl.  
  
"She has detention with Professor Snape and couldn't come," Hatori said simply.  
  
  
  
"In any event, that's four . . . . . " Akito murmured, still casting his dark gaze around in search of the pig. "Or rather seven considering - "  
  
"Hatsuharu is also listed as a Beater," Shigure interrupted. "So that would be eight Soumas on the board."  
  
Akito nodded. "And who made the Hufflepuff team?"  
  
"Tohru as Seeker and Momiji as Keeper. . . ." Shigure announced. "Ritsu didn't make it - "  
  
"I'm an announcer though," Ritsu beamed. He had been bouncing from foot to foot in excitement of the excellent news that he had found something to do. "Ernie Macillian recommended that I try, so I did - "  
  
"I'm an announcer too!" Aya exclaimed. "We're both going to commentate the matches together!"  
  
"Gee, that sounds like fun . . . . . " Kyou muttered sidelong to Kisa.  
  
"Shut-up and tell me who made it for Ravenclaw!" Akito shouted, drawing several startled looks from several eating students.  
  
"Right, both Kana and Hatori made the team - "  
  
"WHAT!" Hatori bellowed. "I can't make seeker, I'm half-blind - "  
  
"Very well, you all succeeded. You may return to your usual activities," Akito said.  
  
"NO, I shouldn't have made the - "  
  
Everyone started to walk away, ignoring Hatori and his protests.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes; I switched Ernie's position around slightly. In the books, he's the Hufflepuff seeker that replaced Cedric Diggory. However, since I wanted Tohru to be a seeker, he ended up being a chaser. Hope no one really minds.  
  
On another note, I'm really sorry about the long waits in-between chapters. I want to say that I can do better, but until school starts I'm going to be way to busy to make any promises. (Not to mention how many stories I already got started . . . . . . . -_- . . . . I got to make things easier on myself . . . )  
  
Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love hearing from all of you! Please keep supporting my story and I'll keep writing it.  
  
Thanks,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	16. Pranks and point removal

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************  
  
"Hey, Ha-san, we've been really good lately, wouldn't you say?" Shigure asked idly. He was sitting on the lawn by the lake, supposedly studying his Potions homework. Aya and Hatori were with him.  
  
Hatori looked up - alarmed. "I . . . should say that you have been, but I don't want to," the former doctor responded carefully. He slipped a bookmark into his textbook and closed it with a soft thunk. "What are you planning?"  
  
"Well, Gure-san and I were rather upset because we didn't make any our house teams - " Aya began.  
  
"And I'm upset because I did," Hatori interrupted. "In case all of you forgot, I can only see out of one eye."  
  
"So, you agree that we've been behaving, but you don't agree that we should do anything about it, correct?" Shigure asked carefully, ignoring the dragon's remarks of distaste concerning Quidditch.  
  
Hatori nodded his head once and reopened his textbook. "That's correct. I don't want either of you starting any stupid prank wars like you did in high school. Honestly, you were behaving like children and you haven't grown up very much since then."  
  
Aya grinned boldly. "Hey, Shigure, do you remember the Star Wars theme music?" he inquired mischievously.  
  
Shigure's eyes widened. "As I do recall it goes something like, DANT DANT DA DUN DANT DA DANT DANT DA!" he bellowed.  
  
Then they both sang it together. "DANT DANT DA DUN DANT DA DANT DANT DA!"   
  
"That would make a good joke, don't you think?" Aya laughed gleefully.  
  
"A a splendid joke if I do say so," Shigure agreed.  
  
"What kind of joke are you planning?" Hatori demanded. For the life of him (and all his patients including Akito ) he couldn't figure out how they could play a joke with a theme song from a boring movie.  
  
"A non-stupid one," Shigure said promptly.  
  
"Aya?" Hatori stated coldly, glancing at the snake and willing him to talk.  
  
"Okay, I confess we're going to - " Aya said, melting without any effort.  
  
"I don't think so," Shigure interrupted. He clapped a hand over Aya's mouth. "That is, unless you plan to help us, Ha-san."  
  
"I don't think so," Hatori said flatly. "The last time you convinced me to participate in your mindless schemes, I ended up with my ears pierced in several places, a tattoo, and hot pink hair!"  
  
"Well, it was your fault that happened. I warned you not to let yourself get drunk at that party, but you just kept drinking and drinking until you passed out - "  
  
"I was drinking tea, and Aya accidentally hit me with a lamp!" Hatori objected. "I didn't get drunk and I -" he cut himself off abruptly. "I'm not going to drag up the past to deal with the present."  
  
"Well then, we'll see you later," Aya shouted. Then he vanished from sight along with Shigure.  
  
Hatori sighed and glanced back at his book. It was becoming more and more likely that he was going to begin erasing memories to simply keep the Soumas in Hogwarts."  
  
"Hey, you look kinda stressed out," Kana said, plopping down beside him. "You have to relax a little more. You're a kid again, that's not something that everyone gets to experience. You should - "  
  
"I'm not a kid again. I'm a fully grown man trapped in a younger body - " Hatori began.  
  
"Yeah, but who knows that besides us?" Kana asked, referring to the Souma family. "You should at least enjoy yourself a bit more, ne? Take Quidditch for example. You're so upset about making the team, but why not just relax a bit and enjoy the sport? You could- "  
  
"I could turn into a sea - " he cut himself off abruptly and stood up. "I have to go check on Aya and Shigure, I'll see you later." Mentally he cursed himself for even bringing up his transformation into a seahorse.  
  
************************  
  
Ritsu glanced cautiously around the library before walking up to Ernie. "Hello," he said softly.  
  
"Hmm?" the Quidditch captain murmured. Then, realizing who it was he froze. "Hello Ritsu," he said cautiously. "What did they say about you being commentator for the matches?"  
  
Ritsu beamed. "They said that I could! I mean, I'm going to be commentating the matches with Ayame and it's all thanks to you!"  
  
Ernie laughed nervously. "I really had nothing to do with anything I just - "  
  
"Oh but I would have never tried for such a bold position if you hadn't encouraged me to and -OH My GOSH, YOU WERE TALKING AND I CUT YOU OFF!" Both hands flew to his face. "I'M SO SO SO VERY SORRY, I SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED-"  
  
"In the library," Madam Pince said firmly. "If you cannot hold your tongue -" she didn't notice Ernie giving her a cut-off motion, oblivious to the upcoming noise, she continued. "IF you cannot hold your tongue then you may not stay in the library - "  
  
"AGHHHHHHHHH!" Ritsu bellowed. "I'M SUCH A FOOL!" I SHOULD HAVE REALIZED THAT YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO YELL IN THE LIBRARY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"   
  
Then, to Madam Pince's amazement, he dropped onto all fours and started bowing excessively before crawling around begging for forgiveness.  
  
************************  
  
"What's her problem?" Ron muttered, getting distracted from his homework as Ritsu began his apology.  
  
"His," Kisa responded quietly. "He's a boy. Ritsu Souma, he's my cousin. He's kinda like me . . . . not very confident, but he always apologizes for everything."  
  
"That's a boy?" Hermione demanded in amazement.  
  
Kisa nodded once. "He just dresses like a girl because it makes him feel more confident." She paused for a moment, she needed to get the conversation off of Ritsu before she said something stupid about the curse. Being around Harry, Ron, and Hermione made her feel at ease.  
  
"Where's Harry?" she asked, suddenly realizing that she hadn't seen him since breakfast that morning.  
  
"Oh," Hermione said, glancing away quickly.   
  
"He's with Sirus," Ron said dismissively. "Down at the Shrieking - "  
  
"RON!" Hermione exclaimed in horror.   
  
Madam Pince threw her an ungrateful look before returning to Ritsu who, at the moment, was getting ready to cling to her leg.  
  
"Ritsu!" Kisa shouted. "No! Akito-sama, he'll be really upset and - " she started running foreword, trying to stop the monkey from revealing the family curse in front of the library patrons.  
  
But before she got even close, she tripped, just as a dark figure stepped out from between two bookshelves.  
  
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Kyou demanded, slipping from between two towering bookshelves and dropping his foot onto Ritsu's back, pinning him to the floor. "She told you to be quiet in the library, not to make more noise."  
  
He grabbed Ritsu by the back of his dress and hauled him to his feet. "I'll just take him outside where he can cool off," he told Madam Pince.   
  
The librarian nodded, not even objecting to the violence the young Gryffindor had displayed.   
  
Kyou smiled humorously and swung Ritsu over his shoulder. "See ya all later," he called out, leaving the library.  
  
He hadn't heard the distinct poofing noise that indicated a Souma transforming into their zodiac form.  
  
************************  
  
Kagura sighed. Haru glanced at her shortly. "Well, it serves you right, you know. You really shouldn't have been attempting to cling to Professor Snape, and hitting him for telling you to go away . . . . . " he let his voice trail off.  
  
"Yeah, but . . . . . " Kagura complained. "You didn't really have to hit me that hard, did you?"  
  
"I really didn't have to get detention for attacking you - I was defending a teacher. What's really irritating is that idiot Snape gave me detention along with you," Haru said stoically.  
  
Kagura frowned at him. "There, you see. You shouldn't have attacked me in the first place. If you hadn't then - "  
  
"You would have transformed and revealed our secret to everyone," Akito hissed. "Hatsuharu did correctly in giving you a through beating - you deserved it!"  
  
"Then why didn't you -" Kagura began, but shut up almost instantly. "Why are you in detention with us anyway?"  
  
"I should think that would be obvious," Haru said blankly. "He screwed up, just like us, and Snape - who's just like him - "  
  
His voice was cut off as Akito hit him upside the head. "SHUT-UP!" he roared before falling silent. His hand was starting to sting terribly.   
  
"Ow?" Haru said inquisitively.  
  
  
  
"F***," Akito hissed. "I think that I broke me hand."  
  
Kagura glanced at Haru sidelong. He looked back and shrugged.   
  
Then the door opened and Snape marched in. "What's going on in here?" he demanded.  
  
Akito held up his hand. "I broke my hand when I hit Haru in the face," he said in amazement.  
  
"You attacked a fellow student?!" Snape demanded, outraged, and maybe slightly gleeful.  
  
"No, didn't you hear him, he said that he hit me in the face," Haru interrupted. "He didn't say he attacked me."  
  
"I fail to see the difference," Snape said with a tight smile. "Detention and remove fifty points from your house Mr. Souma."  
  
"Which one?" Haru asked. "Because I'm in Gryffindor right now . . . ."  
  
"I wasn't talking to you, but you may remove fifty points from your house as well," Snape snapped hotly at the black and white haired cow.  
  
"Oh, okay," Haru said. He turned and brushed past the professor. He opened the door and was about to step into the hall when Snape objected.  
  
"Just where do you think you're going Souma?" he hissed.  
  
Haru glanced at him. "I'm going to remove fifty points from my house . . . . . hey, you're right, I don't know where to do that at. Could you give me some directions?"  
  
Snape took one trembling breath. "Souma I - "  
  
"My hand is still broken. How come I didn't break any bones when I put Kisa and Rin into the hospital?" Akito said suddenly.  
  
Snape rounded on him, realizing that he had let himself get stuck alone with three Soumas. "When you put who into the hospital and for what purpose?"  
  
"Kisa and Rin, I put them in the hospital to teach a lesson to their boyfriends," Akito said dismissively. "But my hand didn't break then. I must have a bone disease that makes my bones brittle and soft - "  
  
"Hey, Kagura, do you know where the point removing room is?" Haru whispered.  
  
Kagura barely glanced at him. She was gazing at Snape with a star-struck look in her eyes. "I don't know, but I'm not going there unless Snapie-poo and I decided to get a bit of loving done . . . . . "  
  
"I'll find it," Haru said, ignoring her obvious adoration for their teacher.  
  
************************  
  
"I told you to leave me alone already, didn't you hear me?" Hiro snarled at Goyle and Crabble. The two thick headed boys had taken to following him around the school, flanking him and threatening anyone who got to close.  
  
  
  
They both moved back a step and continued following him. "Don't you find that . . . uhm . . . .disturbing?" Kunero asked lightly.  
  
"Hmph," Hiro snorted. "Of course I do. It wouldn't matter so much if they were useful, but all they do is grunt and make idle threats towards people who aren't threatening me at all. If they keep it up for much longer, then someone's going to start thinking that I need protection. It's debasing everything about - "  
  
"Hello," Tohru interrupted him. She had a bright smile on her face. "Uo, Hana, Momiji, and I are going down to swim in the lake before winter sets in. This could be the last warm day we get this fall, so - "  
  
Kunero smiled. "Will Akito-sama be there?"  
  
"He's got detention, but I'll be there," Uotani said from behind him.   
  
"So will I," Hana added, causing Crabble and Goyle to cower behind Hiro. One way or another, they had decided she was a threat.  
  
"Cut that out. Don't you feel any pride? Hiding behind a kid isn't really dignified, not to mention it makes you look pathetically weak and useless. But I suppose you don't mind showing your true colors - you are weak and pathetic and you know it, don't you?" Hiro questioned.  
  
They both scrunched up their faces, attempting to find a correct answer.  
  
"Don't bother, you're just going to say something stupid anyway. You might as well say not say anything and just stare stupidly, it's the best course of action in the long run - "  
  
  
  
"Hey," Haru said, interrupting the young sheep's recommendations. "I'm looking for the Point Removing Room."  
  
"You mean where they keep track of the house points?" Uo asked. "I think that it's in the great hall."  
  
"You lose a lot of points and need to see how badly you screwed up?" Momiji asked. "I just came from there. Hufflepuff is in second place," he said proudly.  
  
"That'll change once Haru stops losing points for my house," Yuki and Kyou said at the same time. Kyou still had Ritsu draped over one shoulder.   
  
"Miss Honda, I heard that you were going to the lake. If you don't mind, I'd like to tag along," Yuki said softly.  
  
"I'd love it if you'd come!" Tohru exclaimed. "And what about you, Kyou? Ritsu? I'd love it if you'd come too!"  
  
"Well, I'm not going," Kunero announced. "Chickens hate water. It scares them."  
  
"Chickens are afraid of everything," Goyle said. "That's why they're called chickens."  
  
"And everything tastes like chickens too!" Crabble added.  
  
Haru turned and walked away while Kunero took a big bite out of his arm. "Yeach!" he said, spitting blood and skin from his mouth. "I've never tasted anything so bad before, so you just made that up. Everything doesn't taste like chicken!"  
  
"Imbecile. You just took a bite out of your arm. Akito-sama's not going to appreciate you - " Hiro began.  
  
"And you called yourself a chicken," Crabble snickered.  
  
"That's because I am one," Kunero said, puffing his chest out importantly. "Well, I'm actually more of a cock - "  
  
"I'm going to take him to the medical wing now," Uotani said, grabbing his uneaten arm and hauling him away.  
  
"Let's go to the lake," Yuki said. He turned and took a hold of Tohru's arm and started steering her towards the lake.   
  
"Oh, but Kyou, you didn't say if you were coming with us or not," Tohru exclaimed, reaching over and clasping his arm. "I haven't seen you in a long while again, I mean, what with classes being at different times and all . . . . ."  
  
Kyou's face turned bright red. "All right, I'll come," he said, attempting to fight down his blush.  
  
They entered the grand staircase leading down to the doors. Yuki put one foot lightly on a step.  
  
"DANT!" a loud blare of music echoed through the hall.  
  
"What was that?" Momiji whimpered, clinging to Ritsu.  
  
"I don't know," the monkey responded, looking around in fearful awe. "It was some sort of noise . . . . . ."  
  
Yuki took three more quick steps down the stairs. "DANT DA DANT - " music echoed once again.   
  
"What is it?" Kyou asked.  
  
Yuki stopped and gestured the others foreword. "It's the steps. They're acting like a giant music machine. When you step on them, they play a different note - "  
  
"Sure they do," Kyou muttered, taking a step foreword.   
  
"Phew, I thought it was something scary," Momiji exclaimed. He ran down all the stairs and waited at the bottom.  
  
"That's the Star Wars theme song," Rin announced. "I remember hearing Aya and Shigure chuckling about it earlier. I suppose that this is their work." She walked down the stairs in a dignified manner.  
  
The others followed. "Have you seen Kisa lately?" Hiro started to ask as they reached the bottom.  
  
A loud shattering noise split the relative silence in the hall. Then pebbled thundered down onto the ground.  
  
Everyone jumped in surprise.  
  
"Well, I guess I should get back to detention now that I removed fifty points from my house," Haru announced, looking at the shattered hourglass like container and the small rubies scattered across the floor.  
  
"Ha-ha-haru," Momiji squeaked.  
  
"Leave - NOW!" Rin exclaimed. She grabbed Ritsu and hurried out the door, dragging Momiji after her.  
  
"Why?" Kyou started to ask.  
  
"Before someone comes!" Yuki exclaimed. "We'll be blamed." He caught Tohru by her hand and raced out the door with her.  
  
Kyou frowned. "Wait up!" he shouted and hurried after them. "We didn't have anything to do with that, so why should we -?"  
  
Hiro stopped running. "Just what are you - stupid? The teachers are going to be really upset about that getting broken. But more then that, if it got back to Akito-sama, he'd probably get really really mad and punish us - "  
  
"Why?" Kyou sulked.   
  
"Forget about it and race Yuki across the lake," Rin suggested.  
  
Kyou's red eyes gained new fire and he shouted, "You're on!" at the top of his lungs before flinging himself into the water and across the lake.  
  
  
  
************************  
  
Haru shrugged, not running and left the hall. "Hey, Professor McGonagall," he said, spotting the stern Transfiguration teacher. "There's a mess in the hall, you should probably have someone look at it and clean it up before someone gets hurt."  
  
"What?" McGonagall demanded. She hurried past him and into the hall. Seconds later there was a muted scream and she hurried off in search of the culprit.  
  
Haru, in the meantime, returned to his detention and started irritating Professor Snape some more.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;I'm trying to think who Kisa should have run into. Any suggestions or ideas are more then welcome. :)  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	17. The Great Chase

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
Before I get started, I must give a special thanks to Inu87yasha and Kagura. I've been having a hard time keeping motivated and you guys are just the kick that I needed to get going again. Thanks!  
  
************************  
  
When Kisa felt her weight begin to topple foreword, she feared the worst. Not only was she going to land in a heap, but Ritsu was going to transform into a monkey and ruin their secrete.  
  
Desperately, she tried to catch her balance. It wasn't enough, she fell. There was a loud POOF and a cloud of colored smoke rose around the area she was in.  
  
************************  
  
Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, froze. Having been talking to Harry quietly between the towering bookshelves, he had been in human form. Then, after helping the young wizard, he had returned to his animagus form and walked foreword on all fours with Harry following close behind.  
  
Then he saw a young girl falling. Briefly, he debated getting out of the way, but before he had time, she had fallen on him. Then there was a POOF! Obviously, his mind concluded, she was a witch. There was also a chance that she had seen him transform into his animagus form. It was also possible that she was a ministry witch. He hadn't gotten a clear look . . . .   
  
The smoke cleared and he stared apprehensively at a small tiger. 'Shit!' he mentally cursed. The girl was a ministry witch and to top that, she was an animagus.  
  
"Hey, Snuffles, what was that noise?" Harry asked, stepping from between the bookshelf to check on his godfather.   
  
The tiger's brown eyes shifted to Harry momentarily. Then, without blinking, she seized her clothes in her small jaws and began to run away.  
  
'She saw and knows Harry knows!' Sirius thought angrily. 'I have to stop her!' He started running after her.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa didn't know what to do. She had been transformed by a dog! It was only supposed to work with other humans, wasn't it? How had she transformed? And even worse, had Harry seen? Would he treat her with scorn now?  
  
She glanced at him briefly. A frown was creasing his forehead and his bright green eyes were narrowed behind his glasses. She almost cried out in sorrow at her mistake. Ritsu, she noted, was being carried out of the library even as she stood watching Harry.   
  
She almost called out to Kyou, but found her voice wasn't working again. Panicked, she ran.  
  
Just looking for a dark corner to out wait her transformation, she realized quickly that the dog was chasing her.  
  
Her hackles up, she sprang on top of a bookshelf and started slinking along the top. But the large dog didn't let her escape that way. It sprang, toppling the bookshelf and spilling her feline form to the ground.  
  
Kisa got up, groggy and disorientated. Then she saw his paws coming for her. She rolled out of the way and began running in full blown panic. The dog probably wanted to eat her!  
  
"Stupify!" she heard Madam Pince yell. She glanced over just in time to see and beam of light shoot towards her. Nimbly, she sprang aside. "Stop them!" the librarian shouted. "Stupify, Stupify, Stupify!" With each word, Kisa and Sirius dodged another spell.  
  
Ernie Macillian pulled his wand and started casting immobilization spells as the same time. Books, shelves, and tables flew in every direction. Madam Pince placed herself in a stable stance and started blasting carefully aimed spells. Hermione, after realizing who the dog was, shot a disapproving look at Harry before tucking her wand away and searching for a method to save her friend. Ron and Harry just looked baffled.  
  
"Hey," Ron began meekly. "Aren't those . . . . Kisa's clothes?"  
  
Hermione, having wandered over to the two boys, opened her mouth in surprise. "Yes, they are!" She cast her brown eyes around for any sight of the young girl. "Where is Kisa?"  
  
"Was she here?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes," Hermione said firmly. "And those are definitely her clothes."  
  
"But wouldn't that mean that Kisa's running around naked?" Ron asked. "I mean, if she isn't wearing her clothes . . . . . "  
  
Kisa, upon hearing their words, entered a new stage of panic. Veering toward them, she nearly got captured by what she presumed to be the hungry jaws of the black dog. With a squeal of muffled terror, she shot across the room.  
  
"Go get reinforcements!" Madam Pince shouted in a determined voice towards Ernie's battle ready form. "Professors, if you can find them!"  
  
Ernie nodded his head sharply and flung open the door.  
  
BAM! Kisa knocked him flat onto his face, using his back as a spring board and shooting into the hallway. Without pause, she shot towards the stairs. She'd be able to lose the dog somewhere in the castle.  
  
**********************  
  
Sirius cursed. He had been wearing the animagus witch down. She had almost been caught several times. He didn't pause in his chase. She ran over the poor Hufflepuff student and he ran around him.  
  
Then in the hall, he saw the worst possible person to see. Professor Severus Snape.  
  
************************  
  
Snape was marching down the hall with a darkening scowl on his face. He was trapped by Soumas. They were everywhere and they were driving him crazy.   
  
"Yoo whoo! Professor Snappie-poo!" Kagura called out from behind him. "I really like what you've done with your hair. It looks really - "  
  
"Silence," Snape hissed, not even curious about what the boar had been about to say.   
  
Akito distractedly looked up. "Don't presume to give orders to my family," he snapped coldly. "You couldn't survive going against the Souma family. We'll tear you up and spit you - "  
  
Kagura punched him in the mouth. "Don't threaten my Snappie-poo!" she raged, looking nothing like her usual sweet and innocent self.  
  
Professor Snape stopped walking and swung around, intending to abolish her horrid nickname for him. Haru, on the other hand, continued walking and crashed right into him. "Watch where you're going," the cow said stoically.  
  
Snape hissed, on the verge of exploding.   
  
"Oh, Snappie-poo . . . . . . " Kagura began.  
  
"Do not call me by that horrid name ever again!" Snape hissed.  
  
"You hit me!" Akito snarled at the same time. His gray eyed gaze fell enraged on Snape. "How dare you hit me?!"  
  
Haru blinked. "But I thought Kagura hit you," he began, but a loud wail from Kagura brought him up short.  
  
"How could you say those things to me when we're going to get married!" she screamed in anguished rage. Her face was a mask of furry and without thought of direction, her fist smashed out and connected solidly with the side of Snape's face. "JUST SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME!" she hollered as her leg connected with his hip is a deadly turning kick.  
  
The potions master dropped to the floor with a snarled grunt. Then the library door opened and Ernie hit the floor. A small tiger leaped from the overbalanced student and right on top of Snape's greasy head.  
  
The professor's face hit the floor and he saw spots as his head snapped up. However, even through his groggy head, he still recognized Sirius. "Black," he hissed as the dog raced off in the same direction that the tiger had. "And one of his friends, it would seem," he added with an unpleasant smirk.  
  
"That tiger dropped this!" Ron exclaimed, running out of the library seconds later. He was holding a light pink bra in one hand and a baffled expression on his face.  
  
"Hey, that's - " Haru began, correctly identifying Kisa's undergarments.  
  
Kagura clapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence. She glanced at Akito questioningly. He gazed back with an enraged expression on his face. "That tora!" he snapped, using the Japanese equivalent for tiger. He shook his head, black hair flying around his face. "Bring her to me!" he ordered.  
  
"Everyone return to your house dormitories NOW!" Snape ordered. He shook his head to clear it and began to run after Sirius Black and Kisa, his wand held at ready.  
  
Ernie nodded and hurried in the opposite direction - towards the Hufflepuff dorms. Madam Pince slammed the library door shut, no doubt she was cleaning up or grieving. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all looked at each other for a brief moment. Then, without a word they raced after Snape, determined to save Sirius.  
  
The Soumas, on the other hand, were waiting for Akito's orders. Kagura and Haru were both staring at him. He sighed exasperatingly. "Chase her!" Akito snarled. He suited action to words and charge off after the fleeing tiger and pursuing masses.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa could have cried. It looked like the potions teacher, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Haru, Kagura, and - shudder - Akito were chasing her. She didn't want to be caught by any of them - least of all Akito. If anyone caught her, she decided she wanted it to be the dog. At least it just wanted to eat her.  
  
She shot down a flight of stairs, listening as the Star Wars Theme music blared as she hit each step. She didn't even pause to consider where the music came from. Neither, she noted, did the dog.  
  
She looked up, seeing the main doors open and decided to make a dash for them. Her padded paws skittered on a mass of rubies scattered along the entrance floor. She regained her balance and slipped through the opening.  
  
************************  
  
Professor Snape, hot on Sirius' heels, actually paused for a moment. There were rubies scattered everywhere in the Great Hall. The hourglass that contained Gryffindor's points lay shattered in a million pieces. Deciding that Black was the one to be held responsible, he raced down the stairs.  
  
Or rather, he stepped onto the first stair and froze at the music. Obviously someone had been tampering with the stairs. They were enchanted to play music. Venomously he swore to find out who was the responsible party.  
  
Then he caught a flash of untidy black hair. His black eyes narrowed as Harry shot down the stairs, oblivious to the music. "POTTER!" he roared.   
  
Hermione, who was right beside Harry, grabbed the wizard's arm and they raced across the rubies and out the door. They used each other to maintain their balance.  
  
Snape cursed. He was losing time. Potter would be sure to mess things up if he caught the criminal first. His cold gaze fell onto the banister. He didn't hesitate. He swung himself on and zipped down the stairs vie the banister.  
  
************************  
  
Professor McGonagall and Mr. Filch entered the room just in time to see Professor Snape slide down the banister. They both stared in shock as he hit the bottom and raced out of the high doors.  
  
"What on earth!" McGonagall exclaimed. She raced to the doors and pushed them open, glancing out. In the distance, she spotted Sirius Black. Her hand flew to her mouth. "Get Professor Dumbledore!" she cried out to Filch.  
  
Hearing the Star Wars Theme music blaring, their heads swiveled towards the stairs just in time to see Ron spring to his feet, slip on a ruby, and gash his knees. Blood started pouring onto the floor.  
  
McGonagall hurried over. Go to Madam Pomfrey and have that looked at immediately!" she ordered. Then, straightening her hat, she hurried out the door in pursuit.  
  
"Hell no!" Ron muttered. He glanced at his knee and tied Kisa's bra around it firmly. "That'll stop the blood," he muttered, then raced after Professor McGonagall.  
  
************************  
  
Shigure sat up abruptly. "I just sensed something," he announced. He set his spade down beside the whole he was digging in the side lawn of the castle.   
  
"What do you mean?" Aya asked. He had a bucket of silvery white paint and was rigging the lid to open when the trap was sprung. "I didn't feel anything."  
  
"It felt like a dog . . . only . . . . . ." he murmured, his voice trailing off.  
  
"Only what?" Aya demanded, setting the bucket down and walking over to the four foot whole.  
  
Shigure shook his head slightly as if to clear it. "Only it's different, like it's not supposed to be a dog, I suppose . . ."  
  
"Well, I suppose that you suppose you know what you're supposing about, but I'm rather confused," Aya said candidly. "What do you suppose we should do about it?"  
  
Shigure sighed. "Let's just investigate a little bit, ne?"  
  
"What about our Teacher Trap?" Aya asked as Shigure climbed out of the hole.  
  
Shigure shrugged, placing the bucket into the whole and covering it up with weak sod. "I hope Flitwick is the one who trips it, that's all."  
  
"Okay," Aya said with a shrug. He hid the rest of the prank signs and followed the dog around front until he could see what was happening.  
  
Kisa in tiger form was being pursued. "A dog, some teachers, a whole bunch of students . . . . " Shigure murmured. "Kisa's being chased."  
  
"How can you tell?" Aya demanded.  
  
"Good eyesight, I'm a dog, remember," Shigure said simply. He shaded his eyes. "It looks like she heading toward the Forbidden Forest. I suppose we'll just cut her of . . . . . . "  
  
And they began to pursue Kisa from an angle.  
  
************************  
  
Hiro looked up just in time to see Kisa run into the Forbidden Forrest. Then he saw the people pursuing her. "We gotta save Kisa!" he exclaimed and raced foreword only to crash into Crabble and Goyle.  
  
"Get out of my way you stupid thugs!" he shouted. He elbowed his way through them and tripped over Hana.  
  
"Watch where you are going," the electric girl said spookily. Crabble and goyle both jumped on top of Hiro and attempted to hide. Hana closed her eyes and went back to sleep.  
  
"What are you up to, Hiro?" Rin asked, brushing her silken black hair away from her face.  
  
"What do you mean? Didn't you see? Kisa in her - you-know-what form just got chased into the black forest along with Shigure. A whole bunch of teachers were chasing them. I guess you didn't see that through that tangled mass that you call hair, did you?"  
  
He took a deep breath. "Come on, don't just sit there, let's go. That is unless you don't want to rescue Kisa. I mean, how could you not want to rescue her? She's just - "  
  
"What's Kisa's you-know-what form?" Goyle interrupted.   
  
"Should we beat her up for you?" Crabbled wanted to know.  
  
"OF course not! Kisa's my girlfriend. We're going to get married and have kids and sex every - "  
  
At that point, Kyou drop kicked the young sheep. "You shouldn't even be thinking that way!" the cat hissed. He was still vexed at losing the swimming race to Yuki and took it out of the sheep.  
  
"Is Kisa really in trouble?" Yuki asked.  
  
"It's possible," Rin said after a moment. He runs his mouth a lot, but isn't prone to outright lying.  
  
Akito staggered to a halt, killing further conversation. "Catch . . . Kisa . . . bring to . . . . me!" he rasped, short on breath. He pointed towards the forest and started running again.  
  
"Kisa's probably in trouble," Momiji whined as they took off towards the forest.   
  
Scattered over some distance, Kisa was being chased by Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Snape, McGonagall, Kagura, Haru, Shigure, Aya, Akito, Hiro, Crabble, Goyle, Rin, Yuki, Kyou, Momiji, Tohru, and Ritsu.  
  
From the Ravenclaw Common Room, Hatori observed the group plunge into the forest. Then, he recognized them all. He was probably going to have to erase a lot of memories today . . . . .   
  
************************  
  
Author's notes; Thus ends the Great Chase. Hope you all liked it!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	18. The Forbidden Forest

Standard disclaimers apply. La la la . . . . I don't own Fruits Basket or Harry Potter . . . .  
  
** **********************  
  
After several long moments, Haru decided that he hated the Forbidden Forest. Not only had he gotten lost right away, but he had also gotten separated from everyone else in the group of pursuers he had been part of.  
  
"Hello!" he called out, but no one answered him. "Damn," he muttered. He picked a direction and slowly marched into the thicket. "I guess I'll go this way . . . ."  
  
"Hey, aren't those women's undergarments? Yeah, they are, and they're Kisa's at that! Honestly, don't you have any decency at all? Hand them over right away, you stupid Gryfindor - " he suddenly heard Hiro's voice call out hotly from the dark trees.  
  
"S-s-s-sorry," he heard an unfamiliar voice stammer.   
  
"You better be!" Crabble shouted. There was a crashing of shrubs. Obviously the large Slytherin was advancing foreword in a menacing fashion.  
  
"I didn't tell you to attack him!" Hiro's voice came again, this time irritated. "I want him to give me Kisa's bra and tell me how - and where - he got it from. If he took from her body then - Goyle, what the hell are you doing? Get your finger out of your nose! That's an appalling, disgusting habit that I don't ever want to see -ugh, don't eat your own boogers!" Hiro shouted hotly.  
  
Haru finally orientated on them. "Hey, Hiro do you know where Kisa is?" he asked. "She was . . . . uhm . . . . in the library and then she . . . uhmmmmmmmm - "  
  
"I know!" Hiro exclaimed. "I saw, unlike you I have eyes and they work. What are you doing out here? Following Akito's orders, no doubt! However, I'd be willing to bet anything that you are completely lost. Only a dope like you could - "   
  
While Hiro ranted, Ron began to meekly slip away into the trees, hiding his Kisa's bra with one hand and hobbling slightly due to the cut on his knee. He was spotted almost instantly.  
  
"Just where do you think that you're going? I didn't give you permission to leave you stupid Gryfindor. You're supposed to be telling me - "  
  
"Hey, yours is bigger then mine!" Goyle suddenly exclaimed.   
  
Hiro, Ron, and Haru glanced at Crabble and Goyle. Each of them had a large booger on their right index finger. They looked ready to eat them.  
  
"Control your pets," Haru suggested. "They're being gross. Anyway, we gotta find Kisa before something happens to her. And I guess that - "  
  
A sudden chittering filled the forest air, like the sound of millions of feet clicking against the ground. Ron's face paled. "Spiders," he whispered, his voice harsh. "There're going to eat us!" he croaked.  
  
"Spiders don't eat people. They eat flies and other bugs. And besides that, they don't really eat them. They just suck their body fluids from their bodies. Leaving dried up corpses behind. They're really too small to eat people - "  
  
"What about poisonous spiders?" Goyle suggested brightly.  
  
"Not even poisonous spiders can eat people. At the very best, their venom might be strong enough - and I stress the word 'might' - to cause mild discomfort in humans. Well, in your case, I suppose the term 'large mammals would suffice - "  
  
"Oh yeah, I think they look big enough to me!" a petrified Ron gasped as a large black spider came over a small dirt mound.  
  
"What's that?" Hiro asked, for once just asking one question and not adding a billion statements to it.  
  
"SPIDER!" Ron screamed, his fear overcoming his immobility. "RUN!"   
  
Hiro spotted the spiders. "What the - " he began, pulling his wand out and starting to cast immobilizing spells. "What are they?" he demanded, hurrying towards Ron.   
  
"SPIDERS!" Ron bellowed again.  
  
"AGHHHHHHHHHH!" Crabble and Goyle screamed at the same time. "What are they?"  
  
"I - I- I d-don't know," Hiro said nervously. "Do you think that they took Kisa?" He glanced at Haru only to find a wickedly happy smirk gracing the young cow's face. "Haru?" he questioned. Then, when he didn't get an answer, "Black Haru?"  
  
"Hell yeah!" the youth exclaimed. He ran foreword, fists swing. Spiders went flying in every direction. But for as many as he clobbered, still more came to attempt to overcome him.   
  
Hiro, Ron, Crabble, and Goyle all clutched at each other and decided fleeing was the best and only course of action. "Come one Haru!" Hiro shouted, and they ran.  
  
Haru, on the other hand, ignored them. He was submerged in the joy of battle and refused to be torn away. For too long he had been restraining himself from going Black in classes and general hallway fights. It was time to have some fun!  
  
************************  
  
Yuki and Kyou walked beside each other. In front of them, in the middle, strolled Tohru. Soundlessly they picked their way through the thick foliage. All of them were lost deep within their own thoughts.  
  
Kyou sighed heavily. Tohru looked cheerful, humming softly to herself. She was obviously enjoying her stay at Hogwarts. He sighed again. So far he wasn't. Things were different from back home. He wasn't able to see her everyday and when he did, they were usually just passing by in the halls. He was getting the feeling that he was losing touch with her.   
  
"Tohru?" he called out.  
  
The brunette stopped and glanced back at him. "What is it, Kyo-kun?" she asked politely.  
  
The neko's face turned as orange as his hair. "It's nothing," he murmured shyly. "I just . . . . . . "  
  
"Baka," Yuki murmured softly as Tohru turned back to center.   
  
"What'd you say?" Kyou demanded, temper flaring at the merest word from Yuki's mouth. "You got a problem with me?!" he demanded.  
  
Yuki glanced away swiftly. "Besides the fact that you're a worthless cat?" he inquired superiority. He looked away from Kyou distastefully.   
  
"That's it!" Kyou shouted. "I'll take you on right now, you shitty rat!" he dropped into a fighting stance, an angry scowl on his face.  
  
"Anytime, bakaneko!" Yuki responded, falling into a fighting stance of his own. Unlike Kyou's stance, he merely prepared himself mentally and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet to allow for greater maneuverable. The neko had both hands up and one leg back in a traditional fighting posture.  
  
"Anou," Tohru called out in a worried voice. "We should be looking for Kisa-chan. Now isn't the time to be fighting."  
  
Yuki switched to a harmless pose. "You're right," he concurred.  
  
"Don't back out, rat boy!" Kyou hollered. He launched himself foreword with a punch. Misjudging the terrain, he tripped and cracked Tohru in the forehead.  
  
Swirls in her eyes, the overly helpful girl toppled over muttered incomprehensibly to herself.   
  
"Miss Honda!" Yuki exclaimed. He shot foreword to catch her before she fell. POOF! purple smoke billowed out around him as his body changed forms. His clothes fell around his small white rat form. Then Tohru fell on his clothes and him.  
  
Yuki let out a squeak of surprise. Kyou let out a shout of horror. "Tohru!" they both shouted for different reasons.  
  
"I'm all right, I'm O.K.," Tohru announced in a foggy voice. She sat up abruptly and smiled. "We should keep moving, ne?"  
  
"Don't be stupid," Kyou said. "You're hurt. I - " he looked away, shame coloring his cheeks. "I'm sorr- "  
  
"Uhmmm, Miss Honda do you suppose that you could carry me for a short while? I don't want to get eaten," Yuki announced, drawing Kyou and Tohru's attention toward him.  
  
Slightly squashed, the white rat was fending off several small creatures. "A little help . . . ?" he requested.  
  
Tohru smiled and gently picked him up. "Of course," she said, pressing him to her cheek. "I promise I won't let you get eaten."  
  
Kyou sighed heavily. "Why does he get hugged?" he muttered jealously and to himself.  
  
Tohru, upon hearing him, flung her arms out and engulfed him in a happy hug. "I'll hug you too, Kyou!" There was a POOF of orange smoke and he assumed his zodiac form.  
  
Tohru's face blanked suddenly. "Ara . . . . I, uhmmm, sorry I uh, guess I - "  
  
"It's okay," Kyou said. "I asked for it, didn't I? I'll just walk."  
  
"I'm sorry," Tohru apologized once again.  
  
Kyou sighed. "Don't be. You couldn't help it. And I don't want to here another apology out of you."  
  
************************  
  
Akito was amazed at himself. Long after the cow had gotten lost and everyone else had fallen behind, he was still going. He could see the tail of the black dog in the distance and he knew that Kisa wasn't that far ahead of it. Briefly, he wondered if the dog was Shigure.   
  
Then he tripped over a root and hit his head, passing out right away.  
  
************************  
  
Kagura glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Akito face plant. "Snappie-poo!" she shouted, flying foreword and knocking the potions master over with a sailing kick. "Akito-sama has passed out."  
  
Snape quickly pulled himself to his feet, irritated that Kagura had followed him. "Take him back to the castle and don't come into the forest again. It's forbidden for a reason - "  
  
"But I can't carry him!" Kagura protested. She grabbed Snape by his ankles, spilling him foreword.   
  
"Fine!" Snape shouted. He sprang to his feet, darted back to where Akito lay and hoisted him onto his shoulders. "Now hurry!" he ordered.  
  
They continued to pursue Black and Kisa.  
  
************************  
  
"Ha'ri, do you suppose that Kisa is scared?" Momiji asked, a skip in his step. "Do you think that she got caught by anyone? I hope that Professor Snape didn't catch her. I'll bet you couldn't erase his memory if you tried!"  
  
Hatori glanced at Momiji. The young bunny had gotten lost and - of all things - stuck in a giant spider web. Hearing him whimpering, the dragon had made his way over to the noises and released him.  
  
"It'll work on anyone with the exception of Akito-sama," he answered after a long moment.   
  
"Kay!" Momiji exclaimed brightly. "I hope that you're right!"  
  
"Are we close yet?" Momiji asked after several long moments.  
  
"No, we'd hear them if they were closer," Hatori answered. As if in time with his words, they heard a loud POOF! Without hesitation, they both broke into a run, heading straight for the commotion.  
  
************************  
  
Akito was horrible to carry, he squirmed constantly. Within seconds, Snape realized that he wouldn't be able to maintain his close proximity chase with Black. He spun on heel, coming to an abrupt halt facing Kagura.  
  
"Drag him if you must, but take him back to Hogwarts!" he exclaimed. Then he threw the head of the Souma family directly at Kagura.  
  
The young boar did the only thing she could do - she moved, dodging to the left and avoiding contact with the unconscious man by inches. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!" she roared.  
  
Snape didn't answer, he had continued running.  
  
"DAMN YOU, DON'T IGNORE ME!" she screamed. Then she launched herself foreword, giving Snape a Kyou-style beating. First she rained millions of punches down on him - snapping his wand by accident. Then she was stomping on him before attempting to crack his back.  
  
When he was lying senselessly - or perhaps sensibly - motionless, she ceased her enraged attack. "Oh Snappie-poo, who did this to you?" he asked, cradling his head gently in her arms.  
  
"You did!" Snape managed to accuse.  
  
"I'd never hurt you! I love you too much!" Kagura declared. To prove her declaration, she flung her arms around him, embracing him in a rib crushing hug.  
  
POOF! Colored smoke burst out, secreting her from view. The pressure died off, and when the smoke cleared, Snape noted that he had a pig hugging his hips.  
  
"AGH!" he couldn't help but shout. Thoughts of pursuing Black vanished, replaced by thoughts on Kagura's transformation. He was sharp enough to know what happened in spite of not knowing why.   
  
He pulled her back, a look of distaste curling his thin lips. "Miss Souma - a pig?" he hissed. "I never would have guessed it." The sarcasm was thick in his voice. "Disgusting," he added under his breath.  
  
"DAMMIT!" Kagura bellowed. "Don't talk about ME THAT WAY!" And her piggy hoof smashed into his face just as Hatori and Momiji stepped through the bushes.   
  
"That's enough!" Hatori said sharply. His green eyes lingered for a moment on Akito and then switched to Snape. "You're not to give away the family secrete!" he said sternly, his gaze switching to a slightly humbled pig.  
  
"Gomen nasai," Kagura murmured, truly sorry for her misstep. She looked woefully at Snape.  
  
"I guess we'll find out if it works!" Momiji said brightly.  
  
Snape struggled to his feet, pulling his broken wand in the process. He aimed it at Kagura and the tip fell off along with half of the handle. Snarling, he reached for a spare.  
  
"Relax," Hatori said in a soothing voice.  
  
"I will not relax! That," and he spit the word out, "heathen! attacked me!"  
  
Kagura gave a visible sigh of relief.   
  
While Hatori attempted to calm Snape, Momiji glanced at her. "Why so happy?" he asked innocently.  
  
"Snappie-poo's just upset because I accidentally beat him up and broke his wand. He doesn't mind that I'm a pig at all!" Kagura said brightly.  
  
Momiji looked skeptical.  
  
"Now close your eyes for a moment," Hatori said. "This will make all the pain go away," he fibbed lightly. There was a flash of light and then - "  
  
Snape shot to his feet, a wild look in his black eyes. "He's getting away!" he exclaimed. "Take these errant students back to the castle and stay there!" he ordered Hatori. Then he raced off, straining his ears for the tell-tale sounds of people running.  
  
************************  
  
Rin was so upset she could have screamed. Aya and Shigure, both of them grown men, were clinging to her legs, making it impossible to walk normally. "Stop it!" she snapped coldly, eyes flashing. It didn't do any good, both of them were scared witless.  
  
"D-d-d-do you think the mutant p-p-ponies will return?" Aya stammered, burying his face in Rin's butt.  
  
Rin's eyes narrowed in fury and she pried him loose, dumping him angrily on the ground. "Don't even think about it!" she snapped.  
  
"I d-d-don't know!" Shigure answered. He buried his face in Rin's butt, following Aya's poor example.  
  
Rin knocked him loose and stepped on his chest. "Don't do that again, Shigure," she ordered calmly.  
  
"But I'm scared," the writer objected.  
  
"Hentai," Rin corrected with the Japanese word for pervert.  
  
"Scared!" Shigure said defensively.  
  
"And who wouldn't be s-s-scared of mutant horses?" Aya demanded, not heeding her warning and clinging to her again. The centaurs of the forest had been pursuing them for some time. They had just lost them.  
  
"Let's keep going," Rin suggested. "We'll get out of the forest before they return." Aya reluctantly let go of her leg and took her hand. Shigure took her other hand and they started walking.  
  
Several seconds later, Aya was clutching mindlessly at her leg again. "I think," he whispered melodramatically, "That we're being followed."  
  
Rin, on the verge of denying it, suddenly sensed the centaurs. "Damn, you're right!" she exclaimed.   
  
Shigure and Aya screamed like girls and several centaur's leapt from the bushes with nets in their hands. "Catch the woman and kill the men!" the lead centaur bellowed.  
  
Aya and Shigure screamed and grabbed each other. "I guess this is the end dearest Shigure!" Aya sobbed.  
  
"I'll miss you so much!" Shigure responded.  
  
  
  
"The times we spent together were unreal, my love!"  
  
"I'll always cherish the bitter sweet memory of - " Shigure began only to be cut off by Rin.  
  
"You're not dead yet!" Rin snarled, grabbing both of them out of the way as a rain of arrows showered down around them.  
  
"Do you have a plan on how we can outrun a pack of mutant horses?!" Shigure screamed shrilly in her ear.  
  
Rin pulled her mouth into a tight line. "We'll think of something!" she finally declared. In time with her words, a pack of wild unicorns burst from the trees, nickering for her to get on.  
  
Rin could have cheered - and cursed. Now it was apparent why they were being chased. She was the horse of the zodiac and that meant that horses were drawn to her. Centaur's were half horse and unicorns were all horse.   
  
"Come on!" she exclaimed, deciding to trust the unicorns. She swung herself onto one silken back and hauled Shigure and Aya onto separate ones. "Hold on to their manes!" she ordered.  
  
Mentally she finished her argument about letting two boys ride the unicorns. They submitted and promised not to dump them at their nearest convenience.  
  
The silvery white horse burst into a gallop, turning the trees into a green and black blur. Their tails and manes blew back freely, mingling with Rin's dark hair and Aya's silver hair. Shigure, however, merely got a face full of unicorn hair in his face.  
  
They lost the centaur's near the exit to the forest. Rin didn't look back as they shot out of the trees.  
  
They were safe on school grounds again. Hagrid's cabin to their left, they dismounted. "Go back now," Rin said firmly and completely in vain. "I gave you an order!" she snapped. "Now obey!"  
  
"Uh, Rin, perhaps you could help Aya?" Shigure suggested mildly. "He has a slight problem."  
  
Rin whirled, dark eyes flashing. "So do . . . . I," she started furiously and ended on the verge of laughter. "Aya, when did you," she restrained a couple of giggles, "Get shot?"  
  
"This isn't funny!" Aya protested the laughter. He had two arrows protruding from his butt. He was also walking as if he were still on the horse, his legs out to the side.  
  
"We'll take you to Hagrid's," Rin decided. "And perhaps he'll know what to do about the unicorns. He is the Care of Magical Creatures teacher after all."  
  
************************  
  
Kisa finally stopped running. Her breath was tearing through her orange striped form, and she was too tired to move another inch. She looked around, not seeing any pursuit, but not knowing where she was either.  
  
She spit her clothes out of her mouth, lying down on top of them and waiting to transform back to her human form. She was in the process of hoping that she hadn't really been spotted when she changed back.  
  
Her eyes fell on the black dog's and she sighed in relief. "Phew, you're just a puppy," she murmured. She picked up her clothes and froze. It wasn't all there. Of all of her clothes, the only pieces still remaining were her panties and shirt. She pulled them on quickly and reached out to pet the dog absently.  
  
Then before her honey brown eyes, it turned into a man with his eyes closed. "Are you dressed yet?" the man asked, his voice gruff.  
  
Kisa nodded her head in fearful confusion. She recognized the man as Sirius Black, a dangerous and wanted criminal. But how had he turned into a dog?  
  
He opened his eyes, appraising her closer. "You're just a kid!" he said in surprise. "You're not with the Ministry, are you?" It was more of a statement then a question, so Kisa didn't answer.  
  
He dropped down beside her, handing her his cloak.  
  
"How'd you get your clothes back?" Kisa demanded suddenly suspicious.  
  
"You transfigu - aw, nevermind," he said. He sat silently for several minutes. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.  
  
Kisa nodded. "You're Sirius Black, a supporter of Boldermort, right?"  
  
Sirius frowned. "Boldermort?" he echoed. "Don't you mean You-Know-Who?" He tilted his head curiously at her.  
  
"Yeah, isn't his real name Lord Boldermort?" Kisa asked.  
  
Sirius didn't answer. Instead he laughed wholeheartedly. "Muggle born, are you?" he guessed. "To think his name could be slaughtered so effortlessly."  
  
Kisa cringed at his laugher.   
  
Sirius noticed. "I ain't laughing at you . . . not really. You got his name right except for the first letter. It starts with a 'V', not a 'B'," he explained quickly.  
  
Kisa's face turned red. "So then it's Lord Vol - "  
  
"Yeah," Sirius said sobering slightly. "But you should keep calling him Boldermort . . . . I know I will," he said in a greatly amused tone.  
  
Kisa smiled hesitantly. "But don't you work for him?"  
  
"Lies. A set up. I'm anti-Boldermort," he said simply.   
  
"Oh, did you see what happened in the library?" Kisa asked. "When I transformed?"  
  
"Not clearly, but I got an eyeful out here," Sirius said truthfully. "The way I figure it is like this; you keep my secret and I'll keep yours."  
  
"Can anyone do what you did?" Kisa inquired.  
  
"Yeah, but I do it illegally. I'm an Animagus - you won't have covered them yet - and you have to be registered at the Ministry. No one knows that I'm what I am. It makes keeping out of prison a lot easier. Although . . . come to think about it - you're an Anima - "  
  
Kisa stood up and bowed politely. "I'm Kisa Souma," she told him. "I'm from Japan. I promise I won't tell a soul about you're secret - not even if you tell about mine!"  
  
Sirius stood up. "I won't tell anyone your secrete, no matter what Miss Kisa," he said with a bow of his own. "Now, just out of curiosity, how long have you been an Animagus?"  
  
"A what?" Kisa asked.  
  
"How did you transform?" he rephrased.  
  
Kisa glanced down and then back up. "You hugged me . . . or at least the curse thought so . . . . . " Deciding to trust him, she told him everything.  
  
************************  
  
"Kisa!" Harry exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing out here?" It was sometime later when she ran into her two friends.  
  
"Harry, turn around," Hermione said sternly.   
  
"But why?" Harry started to ask, but the witch spun him on heel.   
  
"Now, put on my cloak and hold it tight. What happened to your clothes?" Hermione inquired lightly. "You're barely dressed, you know."  
  
"Hermione, don't you think she'd know that?" Harry asked, face slightly red as he realized why he was facing the bushes.  
  
"Thank-you Hermione," Kisa said softly. She gave the older girl a hug and smiled shyly. "Can we not talk about this anymore. I'd like to get back to school before we lose a billion points for our house . . . . . . "  
  
"Sure," Harry and Hermione said together, spotting Sirius giving them a thumbs up sign from the foliage. "Let's go."  
  
Fifteen minutes later, they came across the Weasely's flying car. "Do you think we could get a ride?" Hermione inquired.  
  
"Do you think it still runs?" Kisa murmured. She pulled open a door and climbed inside.  
  
The engine roared to a start and the lights came on. All the doors opened at the same time.  
  
Harry shrugged. "Looks like it," he said. He climbed in and Hermione followed. Then, slowly at first the car surged foreword.  
  
"Ron and I used this car to get to school in our second year . . . . . " Harry began to tell Kisa.  
  
************************  
  
"HEADLIGHTS! WE'RE SAVED!" Ron screamed in relief.  
  
Crabble, Hiro, Goyle, and Ron stopped running and started waving for the car to stop. "Save us!" Crabble shouted.  
  
The car stopped. "Get it!" Hermione ordered, blasting at the closest spiders. "Hurry up!"  
  
They all piled into the car and roared away from the spiders and onto the lawn near the Whommping Willow. Then the car ejected them and rolled back into the forest.  
  
"Wild," Kisa breathed in amazement.  
  
Hiro raised his hand in greetings, for once, unable to say anything at all.  
  
"Wild doesn't come close!" Ron objected. Then he shuttered. "I'm never going in there again!"  
  
"Truly a wise decision," Professor Dumbledore's wizened voice announced. "I believe that you all have detention. Please see Madam Pomfrey and turn into your beds. You'll be informed of you punishments tomorrow."  
  
No one objected.  
  
************************  
  
McGonagall tripped, the hem of her robe accidentally stepped on. Her hat fell askew and she grunted in irritation, barely checking her tongue in the hopes that nothing would be said of the incident.  
  
She hoped in vain.   
  
"I'M SO SORRY!" Ritsu bellowed, loud enough to dislodge bark from a nearby tree. "I'M SUCH A CLUTZ THAT I DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO LIVE!" He fell to his feet, clutching at her robes. "PLEAAASSSSSSEEEEEEEE FORGIVE ME! IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!"  
  
McGonagall rolled her eyes. He had promised that it wouldn't happen again more times then she could count. She massaged her temples and wished the exit would come quicker.  
  
************************  
  
And off course, Haru and Snape were still completely lost somewhere near the middle of the forest. :)  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes; How's this for quick?! I did this chapter as quick as possible, staying up late to finish it and everything. As always, let me know what you think.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	19. The day after

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************  
  
The following morning was sheer chaos for Rin, and the rest of the school as well. The elegant Slytherin had the pressing matter of approximately eighteen unicorns following her around the school - no matter where she went.  
  
"Go back to your forest NOW!" she finally spun on heel to demand. While she had been aiming for a commanding tone of voice, it came off as pleading. She couldn't control the horned horses and it was starting to cause problems.  
  
"Maybe if you were to - " Hagrid rumbled from behind her, his thick forehead creased in thought.  
  
Rin waved her hand impatiently. "I already tried to lead them back into the forest last night. As I recall it worked until I attempted to leave the forest, in which case they followed me back out . . . . and to my dorms . . . . and classes . . . . . and meals . . . and hell, they even followed me into the bathroom!" she exclaimed, waving her hands around over her head.   
  
"Well, I guess it's good to see that something flusters you," Kyou said dryly from her left. "Professor Flitwick wanted me to give you this." He held up a note.  
  
"What does it say?" Rin demanded, not even reaching for the note.   
  
"How should I know?" Kyou snapped back at her.  
  
"Read it," Rin suggested. She spun around to face Hagrid, ignoring Kyou for the moment. "You're the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, correct?"  
  
"Yeah, but nothing like this has ever happened before and I - " Hagrid started to protest.  
  
"No excuses. Either do you job and tell me how to get them to go away, or find someone who knows and recommend them for your job position!" Rin said coldly. She spun on heel and marched away from him, her long black hair flying wildly behind her.  
  
"Hey, just be grateful that they're not regular sized 'Hatori's'," Kyou said by way of support. "That would be a real disaster, don't you think?" He turned and hurried after Rin. "Gotta give this note to her!" he explained as he dashed away.  
  
"Regular sized . . . . Hatori's?" Hagrid muttered in confusion. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean . . . ?"  
  
************************  
  
Professor Snape sulked. He was bruised from head to foot, lost in the Forbidden Forest, and hadn't caught his hated former classmate, Sirius Black. All in all the whole evening was a failure. Nothing, he reflected, could make it worse.  
  
He took one angry step foreword, his robes catching on a bunch of knarled roots. He turned around, yanking them loose, not even caring that the thick fabric was unraveling. Then he spun, determined to get back to the school and give each and every student hell from the bottom of his heart.  
  
Scowl firmly set in place, he took one more step. No less then seventeen arrows plunged into the ground in front of his feet. He looked up, eyes murderous.  
  
A pack of centaurs gathered around him. "Take him prisoner," one of them ordered. "We'll use him as bait to bring her back to us. Then we'll figure out where her hind legs went . . . . "  
  
"What?" Snape seethed as they bound his hands and gagged him as well.  
  
************************  
  
Tohru sifted slightly in her seat. It was getting rather late and Professor Snape still hadn't shown up. "Do you think he's okay?" she asked suddenly, spinning in her seat to face Momiji.  
  
"Ahh!" the bunny shouted in surprise, quickly concealing a picture of a bunny on his worksheet. "Oh, Tohru, it's just you," he breathed a sigh of relief upon recognizing her. "I guess that he's okay. I mean, maybe he's just sick, or something, ne?"  
  
"But it's not like him to be late," Tohru objected. "I think I'll go check his office just to make sure everything's okay . . . . " She chewed on her lip nervously. "But maybe I'd better stay seated in case he does come . . . . . "  
  
"I'll go with you," a girl declared from the other side of the room. "I'm Kana Souma," she added by way of introduction. "We haven't really met before."  
  
Tohru got to her feet. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said bowing her head so far that her hair fell foreword.   
  
Kana laughed. "You don't need to go through that for me." She held out her hand and smiled until Tohru shook it. "I'm worried about Professor Snape too," she said as they left the room.  
  
Momiji sighed heavily and stood up. "I guess I'll go too," he said without any vigor at all. "Don't wanna be left alone with the Hugglepuff's and Ravenclaws . . . "  
  
************************  
  
"Stop hovering already, dearie," Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. "He'll be just fine. A little overexerted to be sure, but nothing to miss classes over." She made a shooing motion at Hatori.  
  
He glanced over at her and stubbornly closed his eyes, refusing to leave her medical wing until Akito had been completely treated.  
  
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Well if you're going to hang around, you might as well make yourself useful." She picked up a large block of chocolate. "I need you to break this into smaller pieces - think you can resist a nibble or two?"  
  
Hatori walked over and started breaking the pieces apart silently. "Yes," he said firmly after a couple of minutes. "I won't take one bite."  
  
************************  
  
Kana slipped into Snape's office first. "Lumous!" she exclaimed softly, lighting the tip of her wand. She held it over her head and appraised the situation.  
  
Tohru crept in behind her. "Maybe we shouldn't - I mean - we're breaking and entering . . . do you think we'll get in trouble?" she ask worriedly.   
  
"It doesn't look like he's been in here for a while," Kana said softly. "I don't think that we'll get in trouble, but even if we do, isn't it worth the risk?" She brushed an errant strand of hair out of her face. "Professor Snape might need our help. I'm willing to get in trouble - even expelled - to help out anyone alive."  
  
"What if he's dead?" Momiji piped up cheerily from behind them.   
  
They both screamed and hugged each other tightly, clearly panicked. Upon recognizing Momiji - voice and appearance - they relaxed. "You scared me!" Tohru confessed.  
  
"I'm sorry Tohru. I didn't mean to. I just thought I'd come help you and Kana-san ou - "  
  
"Just 'Kana' is good," the Ravenclaw girl piped up.   
  
"You don't really think . . . he's dead, do you?" Tohru asked in concern. "Professor Snape, that is."  
  
Momiji glanced around. "Well, I don't think that he returned from the Forbidden Forest yet. I mean, I think he might have gotten lost and then - " he drew his finger across his neck dramatically.   
  
Tohru stifled a gasp of concern and horror.   
  
Kana, however, looked at things more practically. "He's a teacher at Hogwarts and more then qualified. I think he'd be able to handle anything that came his way. I mean, a couple well placed spells and - "  
  
"He can cast spells without a wand?" Momiji said in awe.  
  
Tohru glanced at him. "Doesn't he have his wand with him?"  
  
"Nope! Kagura accidentally broke it!" Momiji exclaimed cheerily. Just as quick as the smile flew to his face, it vanished. "That means he's probably in really deep trouble. I'll go back to where we separated and - "  
  
"I'm coming too!" Tohru said in determination. She looked slightly apprehensive about going back into the forest, but more then willing. "We should probably tell Yuki and Kyou where we're going. And Kagura would probably help - "  
  
Momiji shook his head. "They're all in classes and Kagura's got detention. If we try and get them out of classes, then we'll probably get in trouble and not be able to go."  
  
Kana closed the door to Snape's office. "Peeves," she explained at the questioning looks from the other two. "I didn't want him coming in and blabbing to everyone."  
  
"Good thinking," Momiji cheered, once again cheerful.   
  
"Even more good thinking," Kana said with a smile. "You're both on the Quidditch team, right?"  
  
They both nodded. "Although . . . ." Tohru began to add.  
  
"So, let's take our brooms and not set down in the forest, okay?" Kana asked.  
  
"Then it's a plan!" Momiji cheered. "Let's go."  
  
Tohru, still looking undecided, glanced around the office for support of any sort. Her eyes fell on a wand sitting on the desk. "Let's bring him his spare wand!" she exclaimed, grabbing it and tucking it into her robes.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa mounted her Firebolt and shot into the air for practice. The first game was coming up in less then a month. It had been decided that they were going to play their arch-enemies, Slytherin right away.  
  
She pushed all thoughts about Sirius Black and her fateful mis-step in the library out of her mind. Now was the time to concentrate and -   
  
She honey brown eyes fell on three figures slipping into the Hufflepuff locker room. "Nani?" she murmured in confusion. The Quaffle went through the far ring.  
  
"Kisa, pay attention!" Ginny shouted. "You could have stopped that one easily!" The red haired chaser whirled away from the rings and back towards the other end of the field.  
  
Kisa nodded her head and started focusing. She stopped the next eight shots in a row.   
  
It was a pretty good practice. Uotani and Kyou were whacking the bludgers around with deadly accuracy. Ginny and the other chasers were passing the ball with very few fumbles . . . and she was stopping anything - with the exception of the first shot - from getting anywhere near the goal posts. And Harry . . . she looked up, watching him soar through the air. Well, he was getting cuter by the -   
  
She cut her thoughts off again, glancing towards the ground in time to see, Kana, Momiji, and Tohru sneak off the field with their brooms. "Sissy!" she shouted and waved.  
  
Tohru clearly didn't hear her. She didn't stop or even hesitate in her escape from the field. Kisa sighed and focused back on the practice.  
  
"I wonder where she's going . . . . ?" she murmured.  
  
"She can't fly a broom yet," Uotani said from above her. The yankee dropped down in front of the small tiger. "She's probably just practicing someplace quite. It's nothing to worry about."  
  
"Oh," Kisa said.  
  
Then Harry called everyone down to do over their game strategy.  
  
************************  
  
"Crabble! Goyle! Stop hanging around with this nobody and get over here!" Malfoy snapped to his former henchmen.  
  
"Well . . . . " Goyle said.  
  
"Well . . . . " Crabble said.  
  
"You heard him. Get away from me and pester him!" Hiro said. "He's the one that needs your dopey support, not me. I do just fine on my own. All that you two do is cause me grief and trouble. I'm truly better off - "  
  
"Why don't you watch your mouth, Mudblood?" Malfoy sneered at the young Souma.  
  
"I already did. That's why I don't have bad breath, unlike you. Have you ever cleaned your mouth in your life? It's really foul and you got major plaque buildup on your teeth, not to mention, you're gums are an unhealthy shade of pink. You should probably go see Madam Pomfrey before they all fall out," Hiro retaliated immediately.  
  
"Why you filthy, little, Mudblood - " Malfoy began, pulling his wand in one smooth motion.  
  
"Filthy? We already went over this. You're the one that needs to get clean. I'm already clean because I bathe. You got greese in your hair, pimples on your face and ass - probably - plaque on your teeth, and I have to wonder if you've ever washed your hands BEFORE leaving the bathroom and eating," Hiro said coldly.  
  
"Little? Define how that could be an insult? I'm clearly smaller then you - physically at least. Mentally, you can't even reach the heights that I'm at," he continued.  
  
"Oh, and Mudblood? That brings us back to clean and since I am and you're not, then that must mean that you're the Mudblood - "  
  
"I'm no Mudblood!" Malfoy shouted hotly. He cast a spell only to have his opponent calmly step out of the way.  
  
"Professor Sprout, since when is it tolerated - "  
  
"Souma, I want silence out of you. Mr. Malfoy, I think detention is in order, a owl to your parents, one hundred points removed, and we'll see the head of your house in regards to your actions," Professor Sprout said calmly. "Now follow me."  
  
"And take your imbecile brutes with you - " Hiro added. He never seen Tohru, Momiji, and Kana slip by with their brooms tucked under their arms.  
  
************************  
  
"I'm finally free!" Professor McGonagall cheered, bursting out of the Forbidden Forest with Ritsu hot on her heels. "Free! Free! Free! Free!" She twirled in a happy circle. "Ha! Get away from me!" she snapped at the monkey.   
  
"Uhm, okay," Ritsu said, his voice weaker and meeker then usual. He had apologized way too much in the past twenty-four hours. He had apologized so much that he didn't even feel sorry that McGonagall was going crazy.   
  
"Now for a bath!" the teacher shouted in glee. Then she was gone.  
  
Ritsu stood silently for several moments, then he spotted Shigure and Aya. "Hello," he said softly and shyly. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Sssh!" both of them exclaimed. "He's almost there!"  
  
"Who's almost there?" Ritsu whispered, crouching down in the rose bushes with them.   
  
"Flitwick!" they both exclaimed gleefully.   
  
Ritsu peered through the thorn covered brambles, his eyes falling on the small teacher. "What's going to happen?" he asked softly just as the prank went into completion mode.  
  
Flitwick fell into the hole they had dug the day before. He got covered in the iridescent paint and he was also drowning in it for several seconds.  
  
Ritsu pulled him out. "Are you okay, Professor?" he asked.  
  
Flitwick, recognizing him on the spot, coughed up a bit of paint. "I'm completely fine. It's not your fault. Please don't apologize."  
  
"Well, to tell the truth . . . " Ritsu said with a smile. "I SAW IT COMING AND DIDN'T THINK TO WARN YOU! IT IS MY FAULT! I'M A HORRIBLE STUDENT WHO DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE AT ALL! I DIDN'T EVEN DECIDE TO GO WITH MOMIJI, TOHRU, KANA AND AND And and and and - " he coughed twice into his hand.  
  
"I can't talk anymore," he wheezed.   
  
************************  
  
Author's notes; Next chapter will conclude the Forbidden Forest section. Will Kana, Tohru, and Momiji be able to rescue Snape? Will Rin get rid of the unicorns? Oh, and will Hatori unwittingly attract a herd of dragons to live at the school?  
  
Probably.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	20. Forrest mishaps

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Forbidden Forest wasn't nearly as scary during the day as it was at night. Never the less, Momiji found himself on guard, his wand clenched between his teeth tightly. "Tohru," he tried to say, but found the piece of wood was in the way.   
  
The chances that Tohru could have actually answered his question was slim at the moment anyway. She was clutching her broom tight, swerving left and right in no particular pattern. It was all she could do to stay on the broom and make it go in the general direction that she wanted.  
  
"Tohru!" Momiji finally cried out, spitting his wand to one hand and using the other to keep himself on the broom. "Watch out!" When it became apparent that Tohru couldn't, he changed his warning. "Kana, move quick!"  
  
The brown haired Ravenclaw pulled up on her broom's handle, raising over Tohru right before she got hit from behind. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking down towards her.   
  
"I'm fine," Tohru said with a sheepish grin, one leg and arm draped over the handle of the broom while the rest of her was falling off. "I guess I'm really not good at this -" she began to add when she was scraped off by a tree branch.  
  
Her broom flew a couple of feet and then fell to the forest floor with a soft thump. "Gomen nasai!" Tohru exclaimed, quickly getting to her feet as Momiji and Kana landed. "I'm just slowly you two down....maybe you should go ahead and -"  
  
"It's fine," Kana responded. "You obviously need broom flying practice and," she shrugged, "I just happen to need it too!"  
  
"You can do it, Tohru!" Momiji cheered brightly.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"You said you saw Tohru doing what?" Kyou demanded brusquely of Kisa. He had her by her shoulders and was staring at her face with an anxiously worried expression.  
  
When the little tiger didn't respond, he shook her. "Come on, Kisa! This is important!"  
  
"I - " Kisa began, but stopped in a nervous fashion that indicated a fear for speaking.  
  
"You're scaring her," Yuki reprimanded Kyou sharply. He turned his violet eyes to her and said in a soft voice, "Tohru could be in trouble. I talked to some of the Hufflepuff's and they said that she had went off to find Professor Snape." He pulled Kyou's hands off of her shoulders. "It's been three hours since anyone has seen her and Professor Snape is still missing as well..."  
  
"I have to find her!" Kyou exclaimed. "If you know something and you're not telling I'll - " He cut himself off, realizing that his fist was cocked and ready to strike. Kisa had closed her eyes and was bracing for his attack to come. "I don't know what I'd do without her," he murmured. He didn't drop his fist, but he didn't intend to hit Kisa with it either.  
  
"We're going to help Tohru, but we need to know where she is," Yuki murmured, pushing Kyou's fist down so that it hung limply at his side.  
  
"I - I- I'm sorry!" Kisa exclaimed. She turned and ran away, tears in her eyes at her inability to speak. She was frightened for Sissy now, but she was afraid of what Kyou and Yuki would say if she told them what she had seen. She was afraid that it wouldn't be enough and ......  
  
"Hey, Kisa!" Harry's voice called out. He caught her arm and lightly steered her away from the hall that Peeves was rambling down. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh, Harry!" Kisa exclaimed softly. She spun to face him and almost hugged him, tears flowing freely down her face. At the last second, she remembered the curse and pulled away. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out again and pulled out of his grasp, running away down a flight of stairs and out of sight.   
  
"Kisa!" Harry called after her, baffled and confused by her retreat.  
  
"Did she come this way?" Yuki asked, slightly breathless from first fighting Kyou and then chasing after the tiger. He was holding his side and his breath was coming in short bursts. Beside him, Kyou looked ready to run eight miles and wrestle a bear at the end.  
  
"Have you seen Tohru Honda?" he asked sharply.   
  
Harry shook his head slightly. "No, but do you know what's wrong with Kisa? She came running this way crying and - " he stopped, not wanting to reveal that she had almost hugged him - almost let herself be comforted - and then run away from him. He was finding Kisa to be a very puzzling person.  
  
He had been alarmed when she had came charging down the hall and then when he saw her tears, he had wanted to comfort her. He still did!   
  
"She'll be fine," Kyou said. "I'll look for Tohru elsewhere...." he turned and raced away.  
  
Yuki paused for a moment longer. "I......you should probably just leave Kisa alone. It'd be better for her own happiness if you didn't..." he shook his head slightly. "She's not ready for a relationship," he muttered. "It would be too hard on her to have it cut off."  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry demanded. "What kind of a relationship? We're just friends and - "  
  
"It would be best for Kisa if you left her alone," Yuki replied. "Our family isn't very easy to understand." He felt slightly evil for suggesting Kisa be ignored by what appeared to be the first true friend she had ever had, but at the same time. He felt that he was doing her a favor. He remembered how harsh it had been to lose his friends to Hatori's memory blasting skills. He didn't want the same thing to happen to his cousin.  
  
"No body deserves to be left alone," Hana's voice floated over to him. She turned her violet gaze towards Harry ( who was looking rather confused, but determined not to ignore Kisa ). "Kisa's electric signals are coming from the Astronomy Tower. If you want to find her, I suggest that you check there......"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Uotani sighed heavily. Kunero's arm was completely whole again, which was a relief, but now he had gotten it into his head to begin pecking up his meal instead of using silverware. "Kunero," she began tightly. "That's not very intelligent looking."  
  
The young boy looked up briefly. "Uo-chan," he began, referring to her by her nickname. "I believe in trying out all sorts of things and - "  
  
"Have you seen, Tohru?" Kyou shouted, knocking his cousin right out of his chair. "She's missing!"  
  
"I saw her earlier," Uotani responded. "She's with Momiji and Kana - practicing flying."  
  
"She went to find Professor Snape!" Kyou exclaimed. "Which way did she head?" He was pacing from foot to foot, drawing a lot of attention to himself.   
  
"I - er - didn't notice. You were there, it was during Quidditch practice - "  
  
"She must be going to the Forbidden Forest!!" Kyou deducted. "And she flying to avoid being attacked - "  
  
At that moment the door flew open. Yuki hurried in with Hana calmly walking behind him. "Tohru's in the Forbidden Forest," he whispered to Kyou. "I brought your broom, let's go!"  
  
And just like that, they both slipped out of the castle in search of the one that they loved.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hey, Rin!" Hagrid called out loudly. He was stomping along behind her, a crossbow held in one hand. "How far you think we need to go?" He scratched his hairy chin and raised one eyebrow skeptically. "It ain't exactly a friendly place we got here."  
  
Rin paused. "As far as it takes to get rid off these unicorns!" she explained softly. "But not far enough to attract any of the centaurs."  
  
"Attract the centaurs?" Hagrid questioned curiously. "What would you be meaning by that?"  
  
"Exactly like it sounds," Rin replied. She rounded on Hagrid, her black eyes glittering. "I was pursued by centaurs and the unicorns came to help."  
  
"But still.....centaurs usually don't want to have anything to do with wizard folk," Hagrid pointed out. "Did you take something of theirs?"  
  
Rin shook her head. "No, I didn't. I - " She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as Hagrid's mouth formed a little 'O'. He was looking at something behind her. Something that also happened to be nudging her with a soft, warm nose.  
  
  
  
"Blasted unicorn!" she exclaimed, spinning around and intending to crack it on the head with the palm of her hand. There was nothing behind her. Or rather, nothing that she could see. She could certainly feel the warm blow of horsy breath on her face and feel it's soft lips. "Nani?" she asked tightly, referring to the Japanese equivalent of the word, 'what'.  
  
"Huh?" Hagrid asked, not speaking Japanese. "It's a Threstal. A couple of them actually....."  
  
"That's it, we're leaving the forest right now!" Rin shouted. She jumped on one of the unicorns backs. "Get me back to the castle and don't let anyone follow, okay!"  
  
The unicorn let out a joyful nicker and broke into a fast gallop - the other unicorns and threstal keeping up effortlessly. Hagrid was left behind in a cloud of dust. "Well if that ain't the strangest thing," he murmured, stroking his beard.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kagura stood before Professor Dumbledore with teary eyes. "I think something awful has happened to my Snappie-poo!" she sobbed. "He didn't come back from the Forbidden Forest last night and hic I think that he might sob be dead!" she wailed.  
  
Dumbledore patted her kindly on the shoulder. "Fear not," he said kindly, his eyes warm behind their half moon spectacles. "Professor Snape is a resourceful man. He is most likely on his way out of the forest at this very second . . . . . "  
  
"However," he continued. "I d not believe that you care for Professor Snape as much as you claim."  
  
"Oh course I do!" Kagura raged. "I LOVE HIM! Dammit, why doesn't he feel the same?" She hefted the chair she was sitting on over her head and prepared to fling it out the window in anger.  
  
Dumbledore smiled kindly. "Please, Miss Souma, put you seat down and sit in it. Have a lemon drop," he suggested, with a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
"Uhmm......" Kagura said uncertainly. She eyed the yellow candy suspiciously and set her chair down carefully before sitting back down on it and taking a candy. She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. "What do you mean Professor Dumbledore?"   
  
"You are under the effects of a potent - and highly illegal - love potion. Something that I don't believe you should have been messing with. However, what's done is done. So, let's just forget about love potions and clear this little matter up."  
  
"I'm not under the effect of a love potion!" Kagura declared. "I truly love my Snappie-poo with all my heard and soul."   
  
"Maybe," Dumbledore acknowledged. "But I want you to drink this to be on the safe side." He handed her a small vial with pink liquid inside.  
  
"What is it?" Kagura asked. She opened the vial and emptied the contents into her mouth. "KYOU! HOW COULD YOU ABANDON YOUR ONE TRUE LOVE!" she screamed almost instantly. "I'LL MAKE YOU LOVE ME!"  
  
"Ah, young love," Dumbledore chuckled as Kagura tore out of his office. She had taken the chair with her and had a ballistic look on her face.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Snape was furious. He couldn't even twitch - that was how tightly bound he was. He couldn't feel his legs or his arms and his head was pounding because of the abnormal amounts of blood pouring into it. He was hanging upside down, bound hand foot and body, from a tree. Several centaurs stood guard, their bows trained unerringly on his heart.  
  
"This is an outrage!" he hissed angrily.  
  
"Shut up, human!" one of the centaur's exclaimed. He pulled a leather band from his hair and shoved it into Snape's mouth. "Or I'll make you," he threatened while carrying it out as he voiced the threat.  
  
Black eyes glittering in rage, he spotted a bright yellow bow sticking out of the bushes. His memory always served him correctly and he recognized the bow as that of Tohru Honda - the first year who had decked him in a suit of armor on the first day of classes.  
  
What was she doing here? Why wasn't she at school? Mentally he vowed to give her detention.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"There he is!" Tohru exclaimed softly. "But how are we going to get him?"  
  
"I can't fight," Momiji whispered.  
  
"Me either," Kana agreed.  
  
"Maybe we should try reasoning with them," Tohru suggested.  
  
"That might work," Kana agreed. Both girls stood up at the same time.   
  
"Hi!" Tohru said brightly. "We're here to negotiate the safe return of our Potions Master. We need him to teach us how to brew a 'Happy Potion'."  
  
"What?!" the centaurs roared. "Who are you?"  
  
"Souma Kana," Kana said, bowing politely.  
  
"Honda Tohru," the other brunette added, bowing as well. "We're both first year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Sorcery-"  
  
"More hostages," one centaur decided.  
  
"We didn't come here to be your hostages -" Kana began.  
  
"Why do you need hostages?" Tohru interrupted. She stepped foreword. "We don't mean you any harm... And I'm sure that no one else at the school wishes anything bad to happen to you -"  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"Good afternoon, Rin," Shigure said lightly. "You seem to be in a horrid mood. What's the matter... horse got your tail?" he joked.  
  
Rin whirled on him. "I don't want to talk to you or your idiot buddy!" She nodded her head towards Aya as she spoke. "The both of you are irritating me, now go away."  
  
"Still haven't gotten the unicorns to go home?" Aya asked dramatically.  
  
Rin's smoldering silence was answer enough.   
  
"If they won't go back to the forest, you'll have to make arrangements for them here at the school," Shigure mused.  
  
"They've been joined by Threstal's -"  
  
  
  
"Ah, winged horses," Shigure said, nodding his head knowledgeably.   
  
"I GOT it!" Aya proclaimed. "How about they stay at Hagrid's... then you could visit them when you have time!"  
  
"I GET it!" Shigure exclaimed. "That way they won't be prancing around the school!"  
  
Rin sighed heavily and swept her ankle length black hair back from her face. "That will have to work... I'm never setting foot into that ...... place again."  
  
"Just one thing," Shigure murmured. "I hope...."  
  
"That all the centaurs spontaneously combust!" Rin, Shigure, and Aya conclude at the same time.   
  
*******************************************************************  
  
One of the centaurs sneezed, then another. Tohru and Kana were still standing fearlessly in front of them.  
  
"That was odd. It was like someone suddenly wished us dead," one of them declared.  
  
From the bushes, Momiji's bunny enhanced ears picked up the sounds of a fight. "That sounds like, Kyo-kyo!" he exclaimed softly. Glancing back at the negotiating Tohru and Kana, he picked up his broom and crept away from the centaurs and towards Kyou and Yuki.  
  
"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Tohru and Kana need help."  
  
"Where!" Kyou asked, hefting him up by the front of his shirt.  
  
Yuki didn't bother threatening the bunny. Instead he went racing through the bush and burst into the clearing where the centaurs were. "If you lay one filthy hand on Honda-san..... I'll kill you all!" he threatened.  
  
Tohru and Kana looked up from their conversation. "Souma-san..." Tohru said falteringly.  
  
"I thought you said that no one wanted to kill us!" one of the centaurs roared. "Kill them all!"  
  
Yuki sidestepped sixteen arrows. And caught Tohru by her arm. "Are you okay?" he asked.  
  
"Uhhmm, yes, but.... Souma-kun... we were just starting to understand each other." She took a deep breath. "He didn't mean that he wants you dead. He just wants to protect me!" she shouted. "We're good friends and he was just scared for my safety.  
  
"She telling the truth," Yuki said softly. "If you don't mean he any harm, I don't intend to harm anyone."  
  
The centaurs looked around and shrugged. "I guess that's understandable." They started putting their bows and arrows away when Kyou burst out of the bush and punched one of them square in the jaw.  
  
  
  
The half horse, half man, toppled to the forest floor with a dull thump. Kyou cracked his knuckles menacing. "You're going down," he declared. And this time there was no stopping the centaur anger.  
  
Kyou and Yuki both took up positions on either side of Tohru, protecting her from the worst of the centaur attack. Both were moving rapidly, kicking and punching arrows to prevent them from finding their mark.  
  
In the bushes, Momiji groaned. He picked up his broom and crept into the camp, and up to Professor Snape. "Afternoon, Professor," he said sweetly. He pulled a small knife from his pocket and started sawing through the ropes.   
  
As soon as Snape was free (sporting a large lump on his head from landing roughly), the bunny gave him his wand.  
  
"Thank-you," Snape said calmly. Then he was casting. Several flashes of light later, Kana was on her broom. Tohru was on hers, and both Yuki and Kyou were on there's.   
  
"Back to school!" Kana declared. "So long, centaurs!"  
  
Momiji grinned. "I guess you get to come with me, Professor Snape," he declared. He hopped over to his broom and jumped onto it. Snape got on the back and they tore out of the clearing.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Author's notes;Heh, heh, I bet you thought I'd forgotten about this fic. The truth is... I did. I've got so much stuff going and... time really seems to fly. Anyway, I'm back to writing again. Please enjoy.  
  
Oh, and for those waiting for the herd of dragons... don't worry. They're the reason that this fic was started in the first place. Just be patient.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	21. Flying cows

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Only two days remained until Halloween. However, there was no way that Haru knew that. He had found himself somewhere in Scotland by the time he finally wandered into a populated area. And following him was one hell of a determined cow he had picked up from a field along the way.  
  
"Hey, Bessie - we're in Scotland," he said blankly. "Wonder how we got here..." He looked around, walking down the narrow streets until he came to a stop in front of a pet store. "Stay here, I'm going to go get an owl," he told his cow.  
  
"Can I help you, young man?" the pet shop owner asked.  
  
Haru nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking for an owl."  
  
"You're in luck, I have one right here!" the shop owner explained. He started naming off all the terrific qualities that the owl had.   
  
"Okay. How much?" Haru interrupted. He wasn't really interested in the owls specialties. Mainly, he just needed a way to get back school before anyone started to really worry. He bought the owl and departed from the shop. Bessie the cow was standing outside the door. "Come on," Haru intoned.   
  
He wrote a long letter, explaining where he was and that he needed someone to come and get him. Then he opened the cage - and his owl FLEW away without the message. Haru blinked. "My owl!" he exclaimed, on the verge of going Black and chasing the feathered freak down.  
  
Bessie nudged him and mooed, distracting him. "Good idea." He fastened the letter to her rightmost hoof and patted her head lightly. "Take that to Professor Snape or Professor McGonagall - they're the heads of my houses."  
  
"Mooooooo!" Bessie responded.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Hana rolled to a sitting position. "So you're in love with Kyou again, are you Kagura?" she asked the brunette girl softly. "That's interesting. It seems that the love potion didn't work after all."  
  
"Is that what was happening? I thought she'd just managed a new level of stupidity," Rin stated from her bed. She swung her feet out and glanced at the sleeping form of Yuki. "And if no one minds, could you explain why he's still bunked with us girls?"  
  
"Because if he were with the boys, he would be with Akito-sama and Aya!" Kagura chirped. She pulled her hair back with a bright orange ribbon. "Anyway, we should dress up for Halloween, ne?"  
  
"I'm going as Death," Hana stated eerily. She pulled her ebony cloak around her shoulders and fastened it at the top.  
  
"No offense, but isn't that what you always look like?" Kagura asked skeptically.  
  
"No."  
  
"She's right. She looks like a freaky gothic type person right now," Rin said with a slight smile. "In any event, I think I'll wear a costume as silly of a tradition as it is."  
  
"And what about you YUKI!" Kagura roared. She leapt into the air and landed on his bed, jarring him into half consciousness.   
  
He climbed out of bed, completely dressed, and walked out of the room with a dazed expression on his face.  
  
"Okay, so what are you going as?" Kagura asked, turning back towards Rin. "Since Yuki's not going to give us any help..."  
  
"Something... sexy," Rin said after a moment. "Something that screams to men TOUCH! And then I won't let them. It'll be a form of torture."  
  
"Cruel," Kagura murmured. "I think I'll go as a neko-girl! Then I'll have cute ears and a tail just like Kyou's!"  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Kisa rolled out of bed and glanced at Frost. "Morning," she murmured to the magical fire tiger. She scrunched the tiger behind his ears and started to look around for her school uniform.  
  
Dressed, she slipped down the stairs and into the Gryffindor common room. Several students were sprawled around the Halloween decorated room. She spotted Hermione and made her way to the bushy haired girl. "Morning, Hermione," she said softly.  
  
"Good morning," Hermione said, her voice and mannerisms as precise as ever. "What are you doing today?" she asked.  
  
Kisa brushed a lock of amber hair out of her face and shrugged. "We don't have any classes, so I think I'm going to... explore, maybe. There's a lot of hidden passageways at Hogwarts. You, Ron, and Harry are all going to Hogsmeade, aren't you.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Yes. But don't worry. Once you're a third year, you'll be able to go as well."  
  
"Kisa!" Harry exclaimed. "You're awake. I was worried that you weren't going to come down until we were already gone. He smiled at her. "Come on, I want to show you something!"  
  
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, her voice suddenly shrill. "We already talked about this and came up with a conclusion -"  
  
"Oi! Looks like Harry and Hermione are having a little bit of a lovers spat!" Ron exclaimed. "Isn't that something!"  
  
Hermione's face turned bright red and she spun, orientating on Ron. "That's not true, Ron!" she shouted.  
  
Harry caught Kisa by her hand. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here." They slipped through the portrait, Kisa glancing back silently at Ron and Hermione's spat. "As you know, Ron, Hermione, and I are going to Hogsmeade today... and we want you to come too!"  
  
"Can't," Kisa said with a small smile and a blush.  
  
"Not through regular channels, but -"  
  
Kisa squeezed his hand tightly. "Good morning Professor Snape," she called out loudly to the potions master who was sill some distance away.   
  
The greasy haired professor strolled over to them. "Potter, Souma," he sneered disdainfully. "What are you doing lurking about the school."  
  
"Nothing, sir," Harry said, keeping his eyes locked with the glittery black ones of his least favorite teacher.  
  
"I'm sure," Snape said in tones that indicated anything but certainty. He continued to gaze at them with a superior sneer on his face. And then the door he was standing beside was flung open and he was smacked against the wall.  
  
"Ritsu Souma, I have had quiet enough!" McGonagall exclaimed. "You don't ... need ... to ..." he voice trailed off an a smile unlike any she had displayed before slipped across her face. "Ritsu Souma, you do realize that you just smashed Professor Snape into the wall, don't you?" In all reality, she realized that she had been the one to open the door and that technically made things her fault, but.... for a chance to get away from Ritsu...  
  
Ritsu's face flashed rapidly through several colors of astonishment. McGonagall turned to Harry and Kisa, nodded her head politely, then put her hands over her ears and made for the teachers lounge at top notch speeds.  
  
"I'M SUCH A LOW DOWN, ROTTEN, IGNORANT, FOOLISH BASTARD! HOW COULD I NOT SEE YOU STANDING THERE PROFESSOR -"  
  
Ritsu was clutching Snape around the waste now, begging for forgiveness. His pretty hair bows were starting to become rather askew.  
  
"Ah -" Harry began, taking a step back in shock. He had heard of Ritsu's tendency to over apologize, but he had never realized how far things would actually become.   
  
Kisa brushed some hair away from her face. "Let's go," she whispered.   
  
Harry blinked and looked at her. "That's right... Let's go together." They slipped off together while Ritsu continued to apologize.  
  
"WRETCHED HORRORS, PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEEE! YOU MUST FORGIVE ME FOR MY TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST SUCH A WORTHY MAN AS YOURSELF. I'M SO SORRY! GOMEN NASAI! GOMEN NASAI!"  
  
Snape put his hand over his ears and pushed away from Ritsu. "Leave me alone!" he snapped. He straightened his clothes.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! HERE I AM APOLOGIZING LIKE AN IDIOT AND I MESSED YOUR CLOTHES UP! I DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO LIVE!" Ritsu wailed. He put his hands over his ears and crawled rapidly around on the floor around Snape's feet.  
  
"At this rate, I think I'll die by the end of the year," Snape muttered.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE AND YET HERE I AM CAUSING -"  
  
And then Snape ran.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"While everyone's playing around in Hogsmead, we'll have the castle pretty much to ourselves," Shigure began.   
  
Hatori sat up straighter. "What are you thinking about?" he asked stiffly, suspicion tingeing his dark green eyes, or at least the one that could be seen.  
  
"Oh, nothing," Aya responded, flipping his hair behind his shoulder lightly. He brushed some invisible dirt of the sleeve of his leopard print cloak and smiled secretively.  
  
"We're going to fix the mess we made in the Main Hall. You know, with the Star Wars theme song," Shigure announced.  
  
"The teachers didn't take care of that yet?" Hatori asked suspiciously.  
  
Aya and Shigure shook their heads furiously. "Of course, not! That spell was really complex! There's no way that it could be taken care of so easily."  
  
"However, I doubt that you plan on removing it," Hatori said, giving up on dealing with them.   
  
"True," Shigure acknowledged. "But we're going to compliment it."  
  
"Think..... Endor!" Aya shouted.  
  
Hatori stood up. "I'll leave you to do what you want. I'm going to check on Akito. He's probably floating around here someplace dying from a chest cold." He strolled away from the snake and dog.  
  
"Aya, it occurs to me. When you said Endor, did you mean the cute little ewoks... or the forests."  
  
"The ewoks, of course!" Aya exclaimed.   
  
"That's what I thought. But they'll need a place to live, so I suppose we should do the trees as well."  
  
"Naturally. We must make sure that the ewok population survives," Aya said, rubbing his hands together.  
  
"Naturally. That means we'll have to build ewok houses," Shigure added, nodding his head solemnly. "Let's get started right away."  
  
"Maybe Yuki'll be impressed and we'll finally be closer together," Aya added. He smiled mysteriously and pranced down the hall with Shigure.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Malfoy snarled angrily as Hiro walked by with Crabble and Goyle. It wasn't fair, they had been his 'friends'. He slunk after them, listening for anything that might help him defeat the irritating Souma and win back his cronies.  
  
"So, what are we doing today?" Goyle asked stupidly.  
  
"What do you think? We're looking for Kisa. She's probably with that Potter guy again. I don't see what's so great about him. He's just a looser with a scar on his forehead. Kinda stupid if you ask me."  
  
"Definitely," Crabble agreed.  
  
"Maybe she's in the dining hall," Goyle suggested.  
  
Hiro stopped walking and rolled his eyes. "That's pathetic. Kisa isn't like you clowns. She thinks with her head, not her stomach. All you dumb A$$es think about is your stupid breadcakes and pie."  
  
"We think about other food too!" Goyle protested.  
  
"Like freshly roasted chicken. And mashed potatoes with gravy and -"  
  
"Shut-up!" Hiro snapped. They walked in silence for a couple of seconds.  
  
"Why are we always looking for Kisa. Are we going to beat her up?" Crabble asked dully. "I'm good at that. Two good shots and she'd be down -"  
  
"Don't be retarded. I like Kisa -"  
  
He continued talking, but Malfoy stopped listening. He had come up with the perfect was to get rid of both Potter and Souma. He'd take the girl they both liked and make her like him.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
"Kunero, we're going to Hogsmeade," Akito announced. He was feeling in fine shape and in the mood to pick up armloads of sweets from Honeydukes.   
  
Kunero glanced over at him. "Can Uo-chan come?" he asked instantly.  
  
Akito nodded. "Yes, she's got to come with us. We're going to need her help."  
  
"I'll go get her!" Kunero chirped happily.  
  
"No need, she's standing beside you," Akito said quickly.   
  
  
  
"How are we going to sneak out?" Uotani asked, crossing her arms skeptically, but still willing to go along with the sneaking out plan. Going to Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks sounded like a lot of fun.  
  
"That's simple," Akito announced. "We're going to walk."  
  
"How about fly? I can fly. I'm a bird. I believe I can fly-"  
  
Uotani raised an eyebrow. "That's your grand plan?" she inquired. She looked completely unimpressed.  
  
"It gets better," Akito pointed out. "We're going to ride unicorns there. I already cleared everything up with Rin. The unicorns will take us, but we have to have a female with us. Something about them liking girls better."  
  
Uotani shrugged. "Sure, I'm game," the yanki said lightly.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
"Good morning, Souma-kun!" Tohru exclaimed brightly as Yuki made his way into the Dining Hall. "You look really tired. Have you been sleeping enough lately."  
  
"Who cares," Kyou muttered, frowning at Yuki's unfailing ability to interrupt him when he was alone with Tohru.  
  
"Why don't you sit with Kyou-kun and me? We were just getting ready to eat," Tohru explained.  
  
"Thank-you, I think I will." Yuki sat down beside Tohru and smiled.   
  
Kyou sat across from them and fumed. "Unbelievable!" he muttered under his breath. He stood up to go just as the Owl Post flew into the Dining Hall. Then, before he could react, he got hit in the head with a hoof.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Momiji was eating with Kana. Then the flying cow crashed through the window and hoofed Kyou in the back of the head. The four legged milk cow began mooing loudly, stomping along the tables and knocking over food and drinks.  
  
"MOoooooooooooooo!" the cow called. Tied to it's leg, Momiji noticed a rolled up letter.  
  
"That cow thinks it's an owl!" he exclaimed. "See, it's got a letter on it's leg!" He hurried foreword and removed the piece of paper. "It's addressed to Professor Snape, or Professor McGonagall!" he added.  
  
"What does it say?" Kana asked, taking the letter and turning it over.  
  
"It says cow is ready to be destroyed!" Kyou said, coming up with fire in his eyes. he dropped into a fighting stance and launched himself in a furious kick at the cow's head.  
  
"Stop!"  
  
"Don't hurt her!"  
  
Tohru and Kana both dove in front of the cow, throwing their arms to the side to protect the magically enchanted Bessie.  
  
Yuki's eyes widened. "Tohru!" he exclaimed, launching himself foreword to block the kick. He was too far away to get there in time and Kyou couldn't stop his kick at the short range he was in. He was going to kick Tohru and Kana (Kana was in front of Tohru).  
  
"Move!" Kyou shouted helplessly at the girls. His kick connected solidly with Hatori's forearm and a dull crack filled the hushed room.  
  
"Kyou, you should learn to execute more restraint," Hatori said firmly. "You're bleeding from the cut on your head. Let me see -"  
  
"I think... that I broke your arm," Kyou said meekly.  
  
Hatori nodded slightly. "You did, but don't worry about it right now. He turned and looked around the room, eyes falling on Momiji. "Bring that letter to Professor Dumbledore."  
  
"But Ha'ri, it's addressed to -"  
  
"Yes, but it's from Haru. He will need to be picked up from wherever he is and the person to see about that would be the headmaster. Besides, McGonagall and Snape are in the medical wing having some type of mental breakdown."  
  
"They are!" Momiji exclaimed. "I wonder why!"  
  
"I don't," Yuki muttered. "You guys are crazy. He was holding Tohru's hands lightly and looked extremely shaken.  
  
Kana sighed. "Hatori-san, you may treat Kyou, but I'll attend to your injury." She pulled out her wand and flicked her wrist effortlessly, calling out the proper spell words. "Healing bones can be done in a minute," she said.   
  
Hatori blinked. "Where did you learn that spell?" he asked.   
  
"A book I checked out of the library about the same time that I got here. I could show you," she said, looking suddenly hopeful. Hatori usually avoided her like the plague. It was good to see that they still had common interests. "We could study it together," she said.  
  
Hatori finished with a shell- shocked Kyou and rose to his feet fully. "No. I have no interest in studying with you." He turned and left the room.  
  
"MOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" the cow called out.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Author's notes;I figured I better get Kisa's tiger back into things somehow before we all forgot about him. Then I remembered that Haru was still lost, so I had to save him. And I figure by now, Snape and McGonagal have had just about enough of Souma life.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	22. Hogsmead and ewoks

Standard disclaimers apply  
  
************  
  
Hatsuharu Souma sat in Dumbledore's office. Around him several irritated teachers loomed including the creepy Mr. Filch, across from him, Dumbledore sat with a severe expression on his usually cheerful face. "This is a serious matter, Mr. Souma, and I wish to impress upon you the gravity of the situation," he spoke after a long while.  
  
"I don't see the problem," Haru announced stoically.  
  
"He's not Black that means you have to deal with him McGonagall," Snape whispered to the transfiguration teacher.  
  
"Don't paw him off on me!" McGonagall rapped back at him, straightening her hat and glowering at the potions master.   
  
"Ahem, back to the matter at hand," Dumbledore called out, catching the attention of the people in the room. "What are we going to do with the enchanted cow and Mr. Souma?"  
  
"Don't you mean enchanted owl?" Haru asked. "What makes you think that she's a cow? I mean, just because she has utters... She's got owl wings too, you know."  
  
"McGonagall, can you change the animal back to it's original form - whatever that may be?" Dumbledore inquired.  
  
"I believe so," the transfiguration teacher announced.  
  
"What if Bessie doesn't want to change back?" Haru asked. "What if she likes being a cowl?"  
  
"A what?" Snape inquired.  
  
  
  
"Well, since she's part owl, and part cow, I put the words together and dubbed her a cowl," Haru explained.  
  
"It is illegal to create new species - part of the ban -"  
  
The door flew open with a loud bang, cutting off further comment. "Professor Flitwick, there's problem in the Great Hall!" a Ravenclaw prefect shouted. "You must come right away!"  
  
"What kind of a problem?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"There're strange little bears in the trees!" the prefect shouted.  
  
"What trees?" Snape asked suspiciously.  
  
"This bears investigating," McGonagall announced. "Shall we proceed with the Souma matter at an another time?"  
  
"Knowing our luck, this is probably another Souma matter!" Flitwick muttered. "And I think that I know just the two that need blaming..." He headed off into the hallway, muttering slightly darkly.  
  
************  
  
"Professor Flitwick looks kinda mad," Aya whispered from his hiding spot.  
  
"Baka!" Yuki hissed from behind him. The two brothers and Shigure were hiding in the new forest gracing the Great Hall. The rat had entered just in time to see Aya and Shigure begin their ewok houses. Somehow, he didn't think that the teachers would appreciate their 'improvements'. He'd gotten them both out of sight quickly. Apparently it was just in time because a mass of teachers (Haru trailing behind them) fluttered into the room.  
  
The ewok chief, a cute cinnamon and white bear pointed a spear at Flitwick. "Ey chito?" he asked, probing him with the stick slightly.  
  
Professor Snape strolled foreword, foot springing a trap. A well netted rope enveloped all the teachers, trapping them.  
  
Yuki buried his face in his hands. "What's wrong with you people?" he demanded of his brother and cousin. "You brought a warring ewok tribe into Hogwarts - and for what?!"  
  
"They weren't war-like in the movie..." Aya objected.  
  
"Yes, actually they were," Yuki answered.  
  
"I hate to break up the family chit-chat, but we've got company," Shigure announced.  
  
"Nani?" Yuki and Aya questioned at the same time. The both looked up just as an ewok net was flung over their heads.  
  
  
  
************  
  
"They want a negotiator," Professor Binns wheezed.  
  
Hiro glanced up. "Who wants a negotiator, old man? And what for? Gosh, you sure are vague. If you're talking to someone you might as well let them know what you're thinking. Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about. You can't really call yourself a professor of anything if you can't make yourself clear in a basic conversation."  
  
"What he said," Goyle said.  
  
Crabble scratched his head slightly. "Yeah, what Hiro-sama said."  
  
"Why'd you call him 'Hiro-sama'?" Goyle asked blankly.  
  
"It's a Japanese title," Crabble replied proudly. "It shows respect -"  
  
"I want for you to negotiate the safe return of all our teachers and about twenty students," Professor Binns wheezed.  
  
"What the hell did they get caught by? They weren't messing around in the Forbidden Forest again, were they? And how come they can't get out themselves, they are our teachers after all - or can't they use magick in their bounds? That's probably it, pathetic really." Hiro paused for a moment. "Why don't you let Dumbledore negotiate?"  
  
"They caught him too," Binns replied.  
  
"Honestly, I have to do everything myself!" Hiro exclaimed. He started down the hall, heading towards the Great Hall. Crabble and Goyle followed him silently.  
  
************  
  
Akito was sick. He swayed on the unicorn violently, looking paler by the second. One arm was draped across his stomach and he was holding the unicorn's hair in the other hand. "Uoooooooooo-chaaaaaaaaan!" he moaned. "I need... Ha'ri."  
  
He almost fell off the unicorn; however, Kunero was right beside him in a flash. "No worries, Akito-sama. You'll be fine with a bit of chocolate in your system."  
  
Uotani brushed Kunero aside. "That's the problem in the first place. He ate too many sweets in too short of a time. And why the hell are you two back on the unicorns? We've barely been in Hogsmead for an hour!"  
  
"I wanna go ho~ome!" Akito hiccuped.  
  
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Kunero wailed. "I want to go home too! I miss my old home. I wanna go back to Japan -"  
  
Akito's eyes sharpened and he slapped Kunero. "None of us are going home until the curse is lifted," he snarled heavily.  
  
"Do you think a witch or wizard put the curse on your family?" Uotani inquired. She caught Akito's hand before he could hit Kunero again.  
  
"Hai!" Akito agreed promptly.  
  
For several moments they sat on unicorns in the shadows, debating what to do. Then an amber haired girl walked by hand-in-hand with a strange boy! Akito leapt out of the bushes, pulling Kisa away from Harry.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked. He caressed the side of her face, causing her to shiver. "Making trouble?" he whispered softly in Japanese.  
  
"No!" Kisa exclaimed instantly. "I just -"  
  
"Go home!" Akito ordered. He gave her a push in the general direction of Hogwarts.   
  
"Don't touch her," Harry said firmly, bracing Kisa before she lost her balance and fell. He pulled out his wand in one smooth motion.  
  
Akito's face flashed in rage. "GO NOW!" he snapped at Kisa, not accustomed to being disobeyed.  
  
"Hai!" Kisa said sharply. She looked at Harry helplessly. "Gomen ne, I - I have to obey, Akito-sama. I'll see you later." She turned and ran towards the school.  
  
"Kisa-chan!" Uotani shouted. "Jerk," she intoned to Akito. "Matte! Wait!" She ran towards Kisa, gaining on the shorter legged girl effortlessly.  
  
Akito watched them for a moment and then turned towards Harry. "You'll stay away from her," He drawled.  
  
"I don't think so," Harry said firmly. "You can't boss her around like that."  
  
"Actually, he can!" Kunero exclaimed.   
  
"I won't let him," Harry said. He was glaring intently at Akito, his green eyes blazing.  
  
Akito pulled out his wand. "We'll just see about that," he said softly.  
  
************  
  
"So, how do you like it, Kyou-kun?" Tohru asked softly. "I made it all myself, well that's not exactly true. Dobby - he's a house elf - he helped me. Although Momiji didn't want him too." She smiled brightly at the neko sitting across from her on the picnic blanket.  
  
Kyou's mouth was full of rice ball, so he couldn't talk at the moment. "I guess that they're okay," he said after a long moment. He glanced around, looking for any sign of disruption. "The reason I wanted to come out here alone with you is -"  
  
"Ahhh! Look Kyou!" Tohru breathed breathlessly. "Mermaids!"  
  
"Mermaids?" he echoed, looking towards the water.  
  
"Yeah," Tohru said, watching the mermaids swim circles around the giant squid living in the lake. "Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to be a mermaid?" she gushed, falling flat onto her back. "Even if it's never possible. The dream is all that matters."  
  
"I think it'd suck to be a mermaid," Kyou muttered. "I mean, think of all that water." He kept his head down, starring at the food blankly. He had to say something. Now was the time. "Tohru, I really like you... a lot!" he stammered out finally. "A-and I want to ki -"  
  
"Well, I like you too Kyou!" Tohru chirped up. "And I like Yuki, and Aya, and Shigure, and Momiji, and Hatori, and -"  
  
Kyou shook his head. "That's not what I meant, Tohru. I want to kis -"  
  
"HELP!" a shrill female voice screamed.  
  
"There's no one around here who can help you now, Kisa Souma," came the haughty reply.  
  
Kyou sprang to his feet, casting one last soulful look at Tohru. "Dammit!" he shouted, bursting into a clearing.  
  
Malfoy was being strangled by Uotani, but on the ground, Kisa wasn't moving. Kyou raced towards her, deciding that she merited immediate attention. The slimy slytherian wasn't going anywhere.  
  
He knelt down beside her. "Kisa?" he asked. "Are you okay?"  
  
She was shaking her head over and over, murmuring, "No, no, no, no," repeatedly. Her eyes were closed tightly.  
  
"What happened?" Kyou demanded. He picked her up and gave her a tight hug to let her know that he was fellow zodiac member.  
  
She flung her arms around him, holding him tightly. "Kyo-Kyo!" she exclaimed. "He put something in my mouth... said that it would make me love him!"  
  
"Don't open your eyes!" Kyou exclaimed. He seized a handful of his shirt and ripped the fabric away, forming a blindfold which he quickly fastened around her eyes. "Tohru..." Memories of his ruined date flashed through his mind. "Take Kisa back to Hogwarts. She's got some sort of love charm in her system."  
  
"That's horrible!" Tohru exclaimed. She took Kisa's hand lightly. "I'll take her back... er .... but what are you two going to do?" she asked, looking from Uotani to Kyou and back again.  
  
"Take out the trash!" Kyou said darkly. "Just run along now," he added, shooing her towards the castle.  
  
************  
  
"Who's in the forest strolling?  
  
The Birds and the Bees sing Momiji!  
  
The trees raise their leaves from the sunshine,  
  
Who needs the sun when we've got you?  
  
Who's in the forest strolling?  
  
The Birds and the Bees sing Momiji!"   
  
The bunny chirped his song, prancing down the hallway. He was in a great mood, having just spent several hours with some house elves. He's taught them valuable new methods of fun - such as playing Twister and Spin-the-Bottle. Unfortunently, they were extremly pleased when he left. That meant they still had a long way to go before they liberated the house elves.  
  
He stopped walking in front of his common room door. "Bunny Fluff!" he called out the password. The door swung open and he bounded inside, humming his song to himself.  
  
"Hello, Momiji-kun," Ritsu called out softly in a feminine voice. He adjusted his kimono and gestured for the bunny to have a seat. "I'm working on a costume for Halloween."  
  
"What are you going to go as?"  
  
"I don't know," Ritsu answered. "I can't think of a single thing that I could be."  
  
"That's not good!" Momiji bubbled. "I haven't got a costume yet... although I'm thinking I might go as a mermaid!"  
  
"A mermaid?" Ritsu asked. "That's a great idea... I should have thought about it."  
  
"I got an idea for you," Momiji said with a smile. "How about you go as the last thing anyone would ever expect?"  
  
"What would that be?" Ritsu inquired.  
  
"Think about it - it's really obvious!" Momiji exclaimed. He hopped on top of a light yellow chair and perched on the back of it.  
  
Ritsu tried to decifer what he should go as, but nothing was coming to mind. "I'M SUCH A LOOSER!" he began to bellow.  
  
Momiji topple out of sight, startled by his voice. "Why don't you go as a man?" he asked, popping up with his proposal. "A samurai! We can even get you a spiffy sword!"  
  
"A samurai? I'd make that costume lame," Ritsu objected.  
  
"It'll be fun!" Momiji chirped, oblivious to Ritsu's reluctance.  
  
************  
  
"Us girls should make sure we all dress up!" Kagura exclaimed.   
  
"Then we should find Tohru, Kisa, and Uo-chan," Hana pointed out.  
  
Rin glanced up. "Well, there's Tohru and Kisa. They're heading across the lawn for the front doors." She flipped her silken ebony hair over her shoulders. "That's not safe. We should warn them."  
  
She strolled into the hallway, Kagura and Hana following.  
  
************  
  
"How do you tell a boy that you like him?" Kisa whispered to Tohru as they walked.  
  
  
  
"Hmmm? Well, my mother used to say that honestly was the best way. If you like someone, then tell them," Tohru said with a bright smile.  
  
"But what if?" Kisa murmured.  
  
"She said if it's meant to be you'll both know it - besides, if he's scared of telling you and you're scared of telling him, and you never say anything..." her voice trailed off.   
  
"What is it, Sissy?" Kisa inquired.  
  
"Well, then neither of you would ever know and then what? Think of everything that you would miss." She laughed. "Actually I'm having a problem telling the person that I like how I feel. What if, ne?"  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"HEY!" Kagura bellowed. "Don't go through that door! The ewoks will eat you alive!"  
  
"Ewoks? You mean those cute little bears from Star Wars?" Tohru gushed.  
  
"Yes; however their electric signals are leaning toward war right now," Hana said. Shi glided up behind them and put a hand on Tohru's shoulder. "Now isn't the best time to talk to them."  
  
"Besides, Hiro's in there negotiating for the safe release of everyone," Rin said. "Why don't we swing over to Hagrid's and take a ride on some of the Threstals? It's a lot of fun."  
  
"Anou......" Tohru protested. "Kisa's under a love potion spell and we can't let anyone see her until we talk to Dumbledore."  
  
"That might take a while. He's one of the ewok's prisioners," Kagura announced. "But I know about love potions. It'll probably only work if she sees a guy, so no worries."  
  
"I don't fly," Hana announced. "I'll just do my studies, ne? Have fun," she said. Then she glided away from them  
  
************  
  
Before any spells could be cast, Hatori picked Akito up and put him on his unicorn. "Kunero, take him back to the castle. He's sick." He turned to a fuming Harry. "Mr. Potter," he acknowledged with a slight nod of his head.  
  
"He can't boss Kisa around like that!" Harry said flatly.  
  
"Yes, he can," Hatori countered. "But you don't need to know that. You had best just forget about it."  
  
"How can I?" Harry demanded.  
  
"Relationships aren't encouraged in our family," Hatori said softly. "For her sake, leave her alone." He climbed on the unicorn and urged it into a light trot back to the castle.  
  
"You're the second Souma to tell me that, and I'm not going to listen," Harry said determindely. "I'll find out why you want Kisa to be left alone so much..."  
  
************  
  
"Well, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" Hiro asked.   
  
"Ah, you've come to an agreement?" Dumbledore inquired from his ropes.  
  
Hiro nodded his head. "They want help building their homes and they won't leave Hogwarts. In return, they'll let you all go free and never attempt to attack you again unless you offer them violence first. Oh, and in case you were wondering what they planned to do to you - they're going to eat you. Roast and then eat you."  
  
"Tell them the agreement is satifactory," Dumbledore said.  
  
"And ask them who brought them here," Snape added.  
  
Hiro spoke to the chief ewok and then glanced back at them. "You do realize that you ruined my entire day. Honestly, I'm just a kid. How can you expect -"  
  
Dumbledore (now untied) patted him on the head. "You did splendid, young Souma."  
  
Hiro flushed. "I didn't do it for you -"  
  
"I know," Dumbledore said, patting him once more and leaving him with a lemon drop.   
  
************  
  
Author's notes;Next Chapter is Halloween preperation. What will everyone end up as? Read to find out!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	23. Halloween approaches

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
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"Halloween?" Professor Binns droaned in his dry, whispery voice. "What nonsense is that?"  
  
Kagura shifted patiently in front of him. "That's when boys and girls dress up in costumes - then they either go Trick-or-Treating or to costume parties."  
  
"What?" Professor Binns repeated. He put his hand into his head and made a rubbing motion. Several of the children in the classroom started to giggle nervously. Having a ghost for a teacher was interresting, even if the subject - History of Magic - was rather boring.  
  
Kagura frowned slightly and rubbed her orange jumpsuit with the palm of her hand. Dressed as a neko-girl, true to her word, she had decided to attend all of her classes in costume. Unfortuently, Professor Binns was stuck on the impression that she was a foreign exchange student.  
  
A sharp whistle behind her distracted her from her explanation. "Who whistled?" she demanded, taking note of the gathered people. Since it was double History with Hufflepuff, Kyou wasn't present - and if it wasn't Kyou that whistled, there was going to be hell to pay!  
  
Akito tilted his head towards her. "I didn't hear any whistling; however, does anyone else have a constant ringing in their ears?"  
  
Kagura stared at him blankly. "No, Akito-sama," she finally responded.   
  
"I heard tweeting!" Momiji gushed brightly.   
  
"It's a ringing. Say you hear it!" Akito snapped, concerned that he might be loosing his grip on sanity.  
  
"Kagura, why don't you just sit down?" Yuki sugested.   
  
"Don't bypass me, rat," Akito warned.  
  
Tohru got a slightly stressed look while Yuki paled visibly. "Now, there's no need for any trouble. I'm sure that there's ringing somewhere. Kagura, why don't you just take your seat and -"  
  
"Typical goody-goody," Hiro said in a dry voice. "Always trying to take control of everything while at the same time attempting to look like your just helpless and innocent. The only reason I can bear to stand you is because of Kisa..." His voice trailed off. "Speaking of Kisa..."  
  
"Yes, speaking of Kisa," Akito picked up. "Do any of you know if she's screwing around with that Potter boy? Without permission...?"   
  
"I think Kisa and Potter are sweet together," Tohru piped up. "I mean... she usually doesn't have any friends and all -"  
  
"Don't make me laugh!" Akito snapped. "She can only have friends if I say so!"  
  
"Don't be stupid!" Hiro said at the same time. "She doens't need lame friends like that!"  
  
Kagura frowned and looked around the room, toning out the conversation about Kisa. Professor Binns had started teaching again, paying no attention to the commotion rampaging through his classroom. Momiji was singing his favorite song to himself in the corner. And there was no sign of Hana or Rin. "Pro. Binns!" she called out, catching the Professor's attention.  
  
"Yes, and you are?" he questioned.  
  
"Kagura Souma, may I be excused from class?"  
  
"By all means... I don't believe you are part of my class... I've never seen you before. Please, be on your way."  
  
Kagura shrugged. "See you later!" she called to the classroom and then vanished into the hallway.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Kyou's red eyes started to close. It was getting to be rather boring in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not surprising considering the past record. The only people who seemed to be paying the remotest bit of attention were Uotani and strangely enough, Shigure.  
  
"KYOUUUUUU!" he heard a voice call out distantly. He started abruptly, recognizing Kagura's voice. He turned his head slowly, fearing for the worst. Prancing towards him, down the stairs to the classroom, was the last person that he wanted to see - Kagura.  
  
She was dressed in a skin tight orange jumpsuit with a fuzzy cat tail and a pair of cat ears perched on top of her head. She had a happy expression on her face; however, he knew how quickly it could change.  
  
"I haven't seen you in a while!" she sang out. She extended both arms towards him, trying for a welcoming hug.  
  
"Stay back!" Kyou snapped, picking up a chair and putting it between them. "I got a chiropracter who says my back can't take any more abuse -"  
  
"YOU HATE ME! I'LL MAKE YOU LOVE ME!" she screamed.  
  
"We've visited this subject before!" Kyou shouted, leaping away from her. Professor Weiss started towards the couple, meaning to sort things out. "I ain't taking any chances!" Kyou shouted. He manuvered between the teacher and Kagura. Then, when she leapt towards him, the neko jumped out the window.  
  
For a couple moments, he was freefalling, then he landed roughly in the lawn and sprinted towards the Whomping Willow tree.  
  
"KYOU! Wait for MEEEEEEEEEE!" Kagura bellowed and chased after him.  
  
He hit the tree and climbed high into the branches. Kagura approached and nearly got squashed by a branch. The closer she tried to get, the more the willow tree fought. Finally she stopped and started prowling around it's circumfrince. "YOU CAN'T HIDE THERE FOREVER!" she screamed her warning.  
  
Kyou didn't respond. He was glad now that he had founght the tree until dominence had been decided.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"There's a student in the Whomping Willow tree," McGonagall informed Snape.  
  
"And?" Snape inquired lightly. Both of them were in the teacher lounge with the door locked tightly.  
  
"Just seeing if you really cared at this point," the Transfiguration teacher explained.  
  
"It's a Souma, isn't it?" Snape asked.   
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Do we really have to go and stop it?" he asked.  
  
"It? Yes, I'm afraid so," McGonagall said wearily.  
  
Snape hissed and stepped into the hallway with McGonagall on his heels. "This job is going to be the death of me -"  
  
No sooner had the words left his mouth when Hana rounded the corner and started walking towards him. Her face was painted a translucent white, his black eyes glittering. Her ebony hair casquaded down her back freely and mingled with the pure darkness of her cloak. She reached one pale hand towards Snape, "Excuse me, Professor Snape, but your electric signals seem erotic -"  
  
Snape didn't stay and listen to her. He turned and headed towards the Whomping Willow muttering, "One thing at a time."  
  
Hana hovered in the hallway for a second and then returned to the girls bathroom. "Kisa, we're having some difficulty brewing the counter spell," she announced.  
  
"Speak for yourself," Rin answered, coming through the doorway. "I don't think we'll need to. The spell should have worn off if not activated in twenty-four hours. Time is up, so we're safe."  
  
"Kinda," Hana agreed. "However, Professor Twelawny has requested a Halloween Dance this year... we're going to need dates by the end of the evening... any ideas?"  
  
"What about costumes?" Rin asked.  
  
"What if we die?" Kisa asked softly. "Do we still have to go to the dance?"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous!" Rin exclaimed. "Don't even think about dying."  
  
"Whoever you go with, make sure it's not Tom Mort... his electric signals are evil," Hana said spookily.  
  
"Isn't he that jerk who was picking on Kisa earlier this year?" Rin asked. (Voldermort, in case you forgot.)  
  
"Yes, he is," Hana said. Kisa just nodded.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Hatori sat indescively at his desk. Sitting across from him was Kana. And she wasn't talking or looking at him since he had told her off at the cow incident. It was tearing him up.  
  
"Kana?" he whispered softly, catching her attention.  
  
She turned her head the other way and he sighed heavily. On a piece of paper, he scrawled a quick note. "Please go to the Halloween Dance with me. I need to tell you something...."  
  
He passed it over to her, and hoped for the best.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Be a man!" Ritsu repeated for the millionth time. "I can do it!" He stepped into the hallway and ran right into Hermione. POOF! A cloud of colored smoke blasted into the air.  
  
Ritsu freaked and made for the window. Hermione countered his movements with a spell. "What happened?" she asked, picking up the paralized monkey. When she didn't get a response, she cast a transfiguartion spell... one that reverted the monkey back to his orginal form.... a nineteen year old man....  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Author's notes;This chapter was kinda short, but that couldn't be helped. Next Chapter is the Halloween dance. Couples and costumes to be revealed.   
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	24. Voldermort revealed

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Hermione stared. What else was there to do? Naked men weren't exactely the type of thing she was prepared for. "Who... who are you?" she stammered, face red. She took off her cloak, completely missing the clothes on the floor - an odd occurence, considering who she was.  
  
"Ri..Ritsu Souma," the monkey stammered, confused by the question and his rapid untransformation.  
  
"Isn't Ritsu Souma the name of that little girl?" Hermione asked. "One of Kisa's relatives?"  
  
"Kisa's my cousin," Ritsu said hesitantly. "And I just like dressing like a girl because I feel more comfortable -"  
  
  
  
"So... you're eleven?" Hermione fished, trying to keep her eyes on his face.  
  
Ritsu blinked. "Of course, why would you..." his voice trailed off as he examined his body. "I'm me again!" he exclaimed.   
  
"Are you an animagus?" Hermione inquired, looking for a valid reason for the change.  
  
"No, I'm cursed," Ritsu said matter-of-factly. Then the horror of his statement hit him. "I'M SUCH A FOOL-"  
  
Hermione slapped a hand over his mouth. "Cursed?" she questioned. "As in someone put a curse on you?"  
  
Ritsu nodded, still being held quiet by her hand.  
  
"Than... you can shapeshift into a monkey?" Hermione repeated. "But you're not an animagus?"  
  
"Rittttttttsssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuu!" Momiji called out and bounded around the corner. He stopped, staring at Hermione and Ritsu for a long moment. Then he smiled. "Ritsu's got a girlfriend!" he exclaimed.  
  
"It's not like that!" Hermione exclaimed, blushing crimson and pulling her hands to herself.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE DON'T TELL AKITO-SAMA!" Ritsu roared dispairingly.  
  
Momiji's eyes widened as he realized the monkey was back to his orginal form. "Ritsu, you're all grown up!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Hold that thought!" Hermione exclaimed. She caught Ritsu by his arm and snagged Momiji too. "We need to talk."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Okay, here's the thing. We all need dates," Uotani announced. "I'm going with Kunero, so we're out of the loop."  
  
"What type of costumes are you going to wear?" Tohru asked.  
  
"I'm going as a yanki, and he's going as the Nutcracker," Uotani explained.  
  
Rin snorted. "You're already a yanki. Why don't you go as Marie? Than your costumes would match at least."  
  
Uotani shrugged. "Sure, I'm game." She leaned against the wall. "But what about the rest of you?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Tohru asked.  
  
"What are you going as... and more importantly, who are you going with?" Uotani explained.  
  
"I'm going as death," Hana said flately. "And unless Rin wants him, I'm going with Haru."  
  
"Why would I want him?" Rin snapped. "Take him, he's yours. I'll take Shigure to the dance with me."  
  
"And a costume?" Uotani asked.  
  
Rin cooled down quickly. "I guess I'll dress as an elf."  
  
"You mean like Santa's little helper-"  
  
"No." Rin glared at Tohru and indicated the unwantedness of the comment.  
  
"So that leaves you, Tohru," Kagura announced. "Have either of them asked you out yet?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Tohru asked with the most paranoid expression.  
  
"Did Kyou ask you out to the dance?" Kagura asked softly. "Because if he did... or you wanted to go with him... I can always find a different date."  
  
"You can go with Kyou-kun... if he wants, that is," Tohru said quickly. "I'll just see if Souma-kun will go with me. It's no big deal, really."  
  
"Which one do you like better?" Hana asked. "It's getting to the time where you have to decide. Which to be friends with, and which you love."  
  
"Oh........" Tohru moaned in confusion and embarresment. Then she passed out.  
  
"Kisa?" Uotani asked, moving down the line. "Who are you going to ask. Hiro, maybe?"  
  
"No one," Kisa answered. She stood up. "And I'm not going to the dance either." She stepped into the hallway, leaving the bathroom where the planning was occuring. She wasn't sure what she wanted anymore then Tohru was. The only thing that she knew was that she was confused.  
  
"You're Potter's girl, aren't you?" a cold voice hissed. She turned to glance at the speaker and saw a flash of white light. Then she crumpled to the floor unconcious.  
  
"Take her," Voldermort ordered his followers.   
  
Two of the Death Eaters moved foreword and snagged Kisa by her wrists and ankles. Holding her, they headed to the Chamber of Secretes and began their plans for revenge against Harry Potter.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Kana walked up to Hatori slowly. "I got your note," she said softly and hesitantly. "Do you really want to go with me?"  
  
"Not really," the dragon confessed. He took her hand and led her away from the school grounds. "I've never really like school dances... and well, I feel out of place here. I'm not a child. I'm an adult... a doctor..."  
  
"Not really?" Kana repeated.  
  
"I want to make you remember some things," Hatori said after a long pause. They walked past Hagrid's and towards the lake. "Some things that I made you forget. Then tell me how you feel... and we'll see, ne?"  
  
"Sure," she agreed softly.   
  
************************************************************************  
  
"Where's Hatori?" Akito demanded.   
  
Yuki gritted his teeth and didn't answer. Fortuently, he didn't have to. Aya and Shigure were both present and seemed to be in a talking mood.  
  
"Ha'ri's off with Kana!" Aya exclaimed.  
  
"Ah, young love, what a sweet occurence," Shigure added.  
  
"Ka-ka-ka-ka-kana!" Akito stammered an exclamation.  
  
"Yep!" the dog and snake exclaimed brightly. Yuki walked away from them. He broke into a run until he reached the Whomping Willow tree.   
  
"Hey! Baka neko!" he shouted. "Did you ask her?"  
  
"What's that you shitty rat?" Kyou roared, leaping out of the tree after making sure Kagura wasn't around. He landed in a fighting stance and grinned cockily, ready to fight.  
  
"Did you ask Tohru to the dance?" Yuki asked.  
  
"Dance?" Kyou echoed.  
  
Yuki closed his eyes. "Come on than, let's ask her together."  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kyou snapped.  
  
"Tohru-san is going to have to choose which of us she wants. It's not a choice that we can make. If she picks you, I'll drop it and leave her to you with... a minimum of hard feelings..."  
  
Kyou's eyes widened. "But won't she just tell us when she's ready?"  
  
Yuki shook his head. "We both know her better than that."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Hiro stopped walking in front of Harry. "We need to talk. First off, you've been hanging out with Kisa a lot - more than you should be. You don't understand anything about her -"  
  
Harry interrupted him. "You're not the first Souma to tell me that. What I would like to know is why you all think she should just stay within the walls of her -"  
  
"What would you know about family? Aren't you an orphen?" Hiro snapped. "You don't know anything of the commitment many people have to their familes. All families aren't the same... my family... Kisa's family, we're a tight group. We don't need or want outsiders like you butting in. You don't know anything!" He paused for a second. "And if you even think about asking Kisa to the dance..." he warned.  
  
Before Harry could answer, Ron came around the corner. "Oy, Harry, have you seen Hermione or Kisa around? I can't seem to find any of them."  
  
"We were supposed to meet in the library," Harry answered.  
  
"That was fifteen minutes ago. It's not like Herminone to be late and it's not like Kisa either," Ron said. "That was the first place I check, by the way."  
  
Harry frowned. "Maybe they're -"  
  
"Remember what I said, stay away from Kisa," Hiro interrupted. He turned and smacked into Crabble and Goyle. "What are you two lumberheads doing in the hallway!" he snapped.  
  
Goyle rubbed his eyes and nose. "Uhmm, we think something bad is gonna happen to that Gryfindor girl that you like... Souma-something..."  
  
Crabble nodded wordlessly. "Yeah, there's going to be trouble."  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Haru patted Bessie on the nose. "That's a good owl," he told his new pet kindly.   
  
"Moooooo!" the cow answered.  
  
"Caw! Caw!" Kunero piped up. "S'up Haru?"  
  
Haru turned slowly to appraise the rooster. "Not much... and you?"  
  
"I'm going to ask Uotani to go to the Halloween dance with me." He looked at his hands and sighed. "But I'm not sure if I can. I've been Akito's little lap bird for so long that it isn't even funny."  
  
Haru cocked his head slightly. "What are you afraid of?"  
  
"That she'll say 'NO WAY YOU F***ING BIRD!' I'm really worried about how to act when she's around... I get confused. Then stupid stuff starts happening. I know I like her; however, I'm not sure that she feels the same way about me. What if the only reason she likes me is because I'm so.... " his voice trailed off and he glanced at the floor of the owlery.  
  
Haru started to laugh. Threw his head back and outright laughed. "I have the same problem with Rin... a lot of the time. Except she shows open contempt for me. I'm not sure why... probably just part of the Souma curse."  
  
"Part of the curse?" Kunero echoed.  
  
"Yeah, think about it. We transform under stress or opposite sex 'hugs'. We have freaky colored hair -" He touched an errant strand of white hair and ran his fingers to the black. "And we can't be happy. Not true happiness. We're set apart and whenever things seem to finally be going right.... BAM! Disaster strikes and we're back in misery."  
  
"That's not part of the curse. That's typical human behavior. If you're unhappy, then you want to make other unhappy... people like Akito-sama have had their entire life to practice," Kunero said firmly.  
  
Haru shrugged and looked out the window. "Maybe," he started to say, then he stiffened. "Is that Kisa?" he asked in a low and dangerous voice.  
  
Kunero peaked out the window just in time to see Kisa dragged into the Forbidden Forest.  
  
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Author's notes;Dance is next! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story! I'm having fun writing it!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	25. Untitled

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Music played softly in the Great Hall. Ewoks wandered between the tables, helping themselves to food and drinks. Couples dotted the floor and everyone was wearing a costume. Not everyone was at the Dance though. Some Soumas were missing...  
  
"I can't believe it!" Rin snapped, eyes flashing furiously. "I finally decide to give that idiot cow a second chance and I can't find him!" She flipped her hair angrily over her shoulder and frowned even harder. "Then that mutt Shigure had the nerve to ask Tohru to the dance with him!"  
  
Kagura nodded. "Yeah, wild, ain't it?"   
  
"It's not that wild. Kyou and Yuki's reactions on the other hand were," Hana stated from her dark corner.  
  
"Funny, Tohru's the only one who ended up with a date in the end," Kagura noted. "I asked Kyou, but he told me to go away... I think he was suffering from dog-beats-rat-and-cat syndrome."  
  
"I don't think that there is such a syndrome," Uotani said heavily.  
  
"It's really too bad that Kunero abandoned you tonight," Hana murmured. "I sense that he had a good reason -"  
  
"Eichita?" an ewok inquired, tugging on Hana's sleeve.  
  
"What'd it say?" Rin asked, dropping her anger abruptly.   
  
"You wanna know what I think?" Kagura asked. She stared at the ewok for a long second. "I think it just said that we're all loosers..."  
  
"No," Hana spookily answered. "I think that it wants to know something. Please say that again, little one."  
  
The ewok cocked it's head to one side then said, "Skkkywalker?"  
  
"It thinks that you're a jedi," Uotani informed Hana. "Cute little thing, ain't it?"  
  
"I don't use the force. I use Dempa... electric waves," Hana told the ewok.  
  
"Nachta!" the ewok exclaimed. It pointed at itself and than at Hana. Finally, it pointed at the dance floor. "Nachta!" it exclaimed again.  
  
"I'm going to dance," Hana announced. She floated out to the dance floor with the ewok and started to dance.  
  
"Isn't that something," Rin noted cooly. "She's dancing with an ewok."  
  
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"So, you see, our family is cursed!" Momiji finished his explanation to Hermione. "I'm the bunny... wanna see?" he added. He leapt forword and hugged the bushy haired girl.  
  
A POOF of colored smoke exploded around him. Where moments before had stood a little feminine boy, there was now a cute little bunny rabbit. "Am I cute? Am I cute? Am I cute?" he asked.  
  
"Let me get this straight, you can talk in your zodiac form?" Hermione asked. "Stress and hugs from the opposite sex transform you and -"  
  
"I'M SO SORRY! I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU I COULD TALK! YOU MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO KNOW THAT! I'M SUCH A SCUMBAG!" Ritsu screamed.  
  
"Not to worry," Hermione said with a sudden smile. "I know just the curse that's on your family. I read about it in "Ancient Chinese Curses and their Cures" That was back when I was a first year."  
  
"You know the cure!" Momiji exclaimed in surprise.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Although, as I remember, it was rather complex. And it does have to be preformed on Halloween night." She smiled suddenly. "But I feel confident that I can do it. Why don't you go and gather up all the cursed members of your family. We'll need to do it outside. Ritsu why don't you help me gather the spell ingredients?"  
  
"Uhm, okay," the monkey agreed.  
  
"I'll go right away!" Momiji added. He hopped out of the room and down the hall towards the Dance.  
  
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Yuki and Kyou were watching Tohru dance with Shigure. And they were both fuming mad. "What the hell did he have to go and ask her out for!" Kyou snapped. "It isn't right! It isn't fair!"  
  
"Baka inu!" Yuki hissed softly. "Stupid, stupid dog!"  
  
"Hey guys!" Momiji piped up from the floor. "Guess what!"  
  
"Not in the mood!" they both exclaimed and sent him sailing with a casual kick.  
  
The bunny sailed through the air and landed in the punch bowl. "Oopsie!" Momiji chirped. He bounced out amid the shrieks of a couple of girls. He hopped under the table and headed towards Akito's feet. Half-way there, he transformed back to his human form with a Puff of smoke.  
  
Suddenly a very naked Momiji was standing in the middle of the room.  
  
"What's the meaning of this!" Snape hissed.  
  
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"Hug me."   
  
"What?" Kana asked.  
  
"I want you to hug me," Hatori repeated more forcefully. "When you do, I'll restore your memories if you react..."  
  
"Hatori-san, this is ridiculous. Why don't you just tell me what's wrong?" Kana demanded. She brushed his hair away from his face and then froze. "I don't remember this scar," she said, tracing the slightly raised skin with her fingertip.  
  
"I know," Hatori answered softly.  
  
"So, where did you get it?" Kana asked.  
  
"Hug me and find out," Hatori suggested.  
  
"How will that tell me..." Kana's voice trailed off. "Fine, I will." She reached out and wrapped her arms around Hatori's waist, embracing him tenderly. Poof!! He transformed.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Kana shouted. "Water! Wait, no.... SEA WATER!" she picked him up and spotted the lake. "THERE! she shouted and flung him towards the water.  
  
"Wait NO!" Hatori had time to shout. Then he plopped into the water and into the net of a merman. Underwater, he cursed and attempted to swim out of the net. But it was too late.  
  
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Hiro turned slowly, watching his cousin appear in a puff of smoke. "Baka!" he exclaimed softly. For once, he didn't have anything to add. For several seconds, there was silence; then the lights all blew out and cold laugher richocetched through the room.  
  
The lights lit, slowly and an eeiry green color tinged the room. "It's been a while, Hogwarts. But now I have returned. VOLDERMORT! The most -"  
  
"Sorry about this!" Momiji interrupted with a laugh. "Uhhmm, Soumas, we're needed in the Gryfindor Common room. Something about the you-know-what that we all have to deal with."  
  
"Vodermort?" Akito echoed the demented speaker. "Is that some kind of mold?"  
  
"No, he's a dark wizard," Aya and Shigure said at the same time.   
  
"Da CHita!" the ewoks screamed.  
  
"I think that means, 'dark jedi'," Hana pointed out. "That man's dempa is the same as the perve, Tom Mort."  
  
"Shut-up and leave us alone!" Yuki and Kyou exclaimed.  
  
"YOU HEARD ME Kyo-Kyo SHUT UP AND LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Kagura roared. She punched Kyou in the head for emphisis and watched him spiral across the room, colliding with a couple of death eaters.  
  
"Baka neko," Yuki murmured softly.  
  
"Take that back!" Kyou roared and flung himself back across the room with a roundhouse kick aimed at Yuki's head.  
  
The rat ducked and the kick sent Dumbledore to the floor in an unconcious heep right before he cast his spell to get rid of Voldermort.   
  
The general student body panicked admirably. They cringed away from Voldermort. The Soumas on the other hand, payed him no attention and continued with their own quarrels and arugments.  
  
"I still say it's a mold," Akito announced. "But regardless, Momiji... come here and be prepared for your punsihment."  
  
"Meep!" Momiji whimpered.  
  
"I BROUGH A BASILISK!" Voldermort screamed.  
  
"Look I got a new hebi!" Aya announced. He popped up beside the murderous snake and started petting it's scales.  
  
"Get away from my basilisk!" Voldermort snarled. "Adeva Ked -"  
  
"Bless you," Hana said, handing him a kleenex.  
  
"Thank you.... I WAS CASTING A DEATH SPELL!" Voldermort snapped a second later. Conversations went on without him. "SOUMAS!" he finally shouted. "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN OR SHE DIES!" He waved his wand and Kisa floated forword, gagged and tied up, a blindfold firmly across her eyes.  
  
Silence fell across the room. The same silence that comes before a storm.  
  
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Author's notes;It's getting closer to the end.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	26. End

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
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Voldermort smirked as the room fell silent. "Now that I have you're undivied attention..." his voice trailed off and he glanced at the basilisk. "You'll all note that by precious has it's eyes closed... but not for long." He started hissing at the snake.  
  
The serpant didn't respond.  
  
He hissed more.   
  
Still no response.  
  
He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell, taking over the snakes mind with his own mind.  
  
Aya stepped sadly away from the snake. "It's being possessed," he said sadly.  
  
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"Oh no!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's a basilisk. We can't let it open it's eyes!"  
  
"What do you want me to do, Hermione-san?" Ritsu asked.  
  
"Who is the rooster? The cry of a rooster is fatal to basilisks," Hermione said quickly.  
  
"I'll take care of it!" Ritsu exclaimed. He shot forword and froze. Kunero wasn't in the room. "I'm so sorry! Kunero's not here!" he screamed.  
  
"Oh yes he is!" Haru exclaimed. He kicked one of the Death Eaters across the room. "You had better let Kisa go right now!" he warned Voldermort.  
  
Hermione popped up behind Kunero. "Crow like a rooster or I'll tell about the curse," she threatened and than hugged him.  
  
Several things happened at once. First and most importantly, Kunero transform and screamed out a wake-up call. At the same time, Aya used Kyou as a bat and smacked Voldermort away from the snake. Then the hebi climbed up the snake and covered it's ears, mentally asking it to keep it's eyes closed. The basilisk nodded contently and settled down for a nap.  
  
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"Haru, where the hell have you been?" Rin snapped, ducking beneath a Death Eaters spell and pulling out her wand.  
  
"Here and there..." was the response. He grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, snagging Kisa in the same motion.  
  
"Hey!" Rin protested.   
  
Haru didn't respond. He crouched down behind an overturned table and peered at the Death Eaters casting spells towards the general student body.   
  
"Is she hurt?" Akito asked. He was leaning against the back of the table, obviously suffering from some sort of asthma attack.  
  
"She should be fine with a little bit of doctor attention," Hermione said. "However, if we're going to cast the counter-curse, we're going to have to first get rid of Volder...mort."  
  
"Counter-curse?" Rin asked. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Didn't Momiji tell you? I know the cure to your curse. It has to be preformed tonight... and all the Souma's have to be present."  
  
"Everyone's here," Akito said, opting to go along with Hermione rather than be upset that she knew the cure to his curse and hadn't said something sooner.  
  
"Actually, I think Hatori's missing," Uotani announced. "I haven't seen him at all." She was holding an unconcious rooster firmly in both hands.  
  
"That's not good, but like I said, we're going to have to get rid of -"  
  
"GET RID OF VOLDERGOAT!" Akito snapped. He slapped Haru in the butt, prompting the cow to charge mindless towards the dark wizard and certain death.  
  
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Trees sprang up through the stone floor and ewoks started throwing rocks and spears towards the confused Death Eaters. Aya and Shigure led the charge. "We must defeat the IMPERIALS!" they shouted, proving that they had been watching too much Star Wars.  
  
Voldermort blinked as a cute and fuzzy ewok smashed his knee with a rock hammer. That second was all Haru needed. He connected with the Dark Wizard at eighty miles per hour. A solid punch to the jaw staggered the frailer man, causing him to drop his wand.  
  
Hiro preformed a summoning charm and called the wand to his hand. "You really shouldn't have hurt Kisa," he said coldy, snapping the wand into eight pieces.   
  
Then he aimed his own wand and started blasting jinxes at the Death Eaters.  
  
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Kisa woke up to Sirius Black's concerned face. "That was one hell of a spell ole' Boldermort cast on you," he told her.  
  
Harry nodded. "I was really worried about you," he said.  
  
"Nani?" the tiger questioned.  
  
BAM! Frost, the fire tiger pounced over Voldermort and landed beside them. "Frost, what's wrong?" Kisa asked.  
  
"There's someting wrong with Haru's cow too!" Momiji exclaimed. "Apparently all the animals are starting to freak out!"  
  
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Hatori didn't know what to do or think. He was being served up as merpeople food. It wasn't supposed to be happening like this! He was supposed to be confessing his feelings for Kana, not feeling like a meal!  
  
He felt strange. Hogwarts was possibly one of the worst mistakes he had made in his life. The school caused nothing but trouble and... His body felt hot, distracting him from his thoughts.  
  
His pulse quickened and the water around him seemed to start boiling.  
  
'Great, they're cooking me,' he had time to think and then it happened. His body exploded. Or at least that's what it felt like. One second he was a little fishie and the next he was a full blown dragon.  
  
He stretched his wings out to the side and pushed up against the water, shooting out of the lake and hovering uncertinly for a moment. Kana was standing on the shore, eyes wide. In the air all around him were dragons of every size and shape. They all called out to him, wanting him to fly with them.  
  
He landed. "Kana, calm down," he ordered. "It's... ah me, Hatori."  
  
"Wha-wha-wha?" Kana stammered. "You turned into a little seaho-ho-horse and then....."  
  
A loud explosion sounded from Hogwarts. Hatori blinked, his dragon ears picking up the sound of death spells being cast. "We need to get to the castle!" he exclaimed. "Climb on!"  
  
Kana gave up objecting. She climbed on his back and held her breath, hoping for the best.  
  
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They were fighting... and loosing. Then the dragons came. The smallest, a black dragon with Kana riding it's shoulders. The biggest, a large red dragon, flopped down behind Voldermort and ate him.  
  
The Death Eaters all looked around shocked. "Dragons?" one of them squeaked.  
  
In response, the dragons licked their lips.  
  
"Don't eat anyone!" Hatori shouted. The dragons settled back and started batting at the Death Eaters.  
  
Everyone's here, preform the spell!" Akito ordered Hermione.  
  
"Bu- bu- but Voldermort....." she managed to say.  
  
"Looks like he's dead," Akito announced.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Okay, Bipity, Bopity, Boo!" she called out and waved her wand in an elaborate circle. Around her wrist was a band of Holly, the only ingrediat needed for the spell.  
  
A soft light enveloped the room and all the Soumas transformed into their animal forms for two seconds. Then with a burst of lightly colored smoke, they returned to their true forms.  
  
Akito frowned. "Did it work?" he asked. He grabbed Haru by his wrist and shoved him into Hermione's arms. There was no POOF.  
  
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Afterword;This story took a long time to complete. I suppose that there could have been more; however this is how I wanted to finish it.  
  
Akito and the Soumas all left Hogwarts and returned home. Kisa and Harry write each other all the time. Aya, Shigure, and the ewok nation are always in close contact with each other. Hiro still hasn't gotten rid of Crabble and Goyle. Haru and Rin are dating tenatively. Uotani and Kunero are also a tight couple. Kyou, Yuki, and Tohru haven't resolved their love triangle yet; however, Tohru finially graduated using a homeschool program. Hana returned to her family and gave her brother, Megumi a large collection of curse books. Ritsu still keeps in close contact with Ernie Maccillian; he is also suffering through a crush on Hermione for which he is very sorry. Kagura returned to Hogwarts and has redevloped her crush on Professor Snape. Hatori and Kana are redating.  
  
As for the Souma curse; as things turned out, they can transform into their animal forms at will. Akito loves the new abilities best of all, considering he can become any animal.  
  
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Author's notes;Thank you to everyone who reviewed and loved my story! I would especially like to thank inu87yahsa! You were a great support to me; I only hope that you enjoyed the ending and will continue to read my stories.  
  
Thank you one and all,  
  
Kissa-chan 


End file.
